


Finding Captain America

by RovakPotter82



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Faked Death, Friendship, secret pregancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2018-05-10 14:58:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5590561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RovakPotter82/pseuds/RovakPotter82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been three and a half years since the death of Captain America.  His former teammates gather at Avengers Tower to celebrate and remember him on his favorite holiday, Christmas.  On her way there, Natasha Romanoff finds a painting that looks eerily familiar and within it, they find a startling clue and discover he's alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> This just popped into my head. Let me know what you think and I may continue it or not. I do now own Marvel comics.

Christmas was a time for celebration and family. Exchange gifts, eat and be merry. For the Avengers, they get together at Avengers Tower to be together in remembrance of their friend and leader, Captain America. Three and a half years ago, Steve Rogers was gunned down by Crossbones, as he was exiting a courthouse after speaking on behalf of his friend, James “Bucky” Barnes. The courts deemed that Bucky was not responsible for the assassinations he did while he was brainwashed and tortured by Hydra and also, Captain America was given a presidential pardon after a fall out between superheroes and the US government revealed it was all Hydra working against the Avengers and Captain America. Turned out they wanted him in front of that courthouse so Crossbones could take him out.

Nothing they could do can bring him back, but Wanda and Sam took care of Crossbones. Sam beat him to a pulp and Wanda made sure he spent the rest of his life having his nightmares plaque him while he rotted behind bars.

Every year at Christmas, the Avengers gathered at the tower to remember Steve and celebrate the holiday together. Christmas was Steve's favorite holiday and they wanted to celebrate together in memory of their friend. Their families understood and would see them for New Years. Christmastime was reserved for Steve. Tony, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Thor, Wanda, Sam and Bucky gather to remember their friend.

Clint groaned as he dragged himself into the common area of the tower. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed seeing the massive tree that Tony got. 

“What do you think?” Tony asked.

“Is that one bigger than last year's?” Clint asked putting his bags down. He arrived five days early, like they always did. He spent Christmas with Laura and the kids before he left and they went up to her parents' house for Christmas. He didn't like his mother in law much anyway.

“Just a foot taller,” Tony said. “I got the decorations out, but I know how everybody likes to decorate the tree when we all get here. I got the lights on though.” The traditional gold lights were already on the tree.

“I got a quadruple batch of Laura's Snickerdoodles,” Clint said. “I'm going to put them in the kitchen and then get settled in my room,” he said.

“All right,” Tony said as Clint's phone went off. “Who's that?” he asked as Clint answered it.

“It's Nat. Her car broke down on the Jersey turnpike. She's got to have it towed and get it fixed. She's going to be late,” he said.

“I can hop a jet and get down there to get her,” Tony said.

“It's all right. She's already got the car towed and to a garage. She's waiting at restaurant for it to get fixed. They're almost done with it,” Clint said. “She'll get here in the evening,” he said.

“We can't decorate the tree without her,” Tony said. “She'll kill me,” he added. 

“She said to start without her, Tony. I'll be back.”

“Okay,” Tony said going over to the bar.

 

Natasha sighed out as she put her phone down. She hated to be late, but the mechanic said it was a big job. She hated lying to Clint and the rest of them. She would just have to miss the dinner and the decorating of the tree. The waitress came over and took her order. “Anything to drink?” she asked.

“Just water for now. I'll have the lasagna with garlic bread and salad and I'll take a strawberry milkshake with my meal,” she said.

“Of course,” the waitress said. She took the menu and headed to the kitchen to put her order in. Natasha sighed as she got out her Stark Pad and brought up the picture file. She scrolled through the photos she had saved over the years being friends with Steve. He became a master at taking selfies with her and everyone else on the team. She came through to a video and chuckled before pressing play. 

“Steve, you're not taking a picture. You're taking a video,” Natasha's voice said in the video. 

“I am?” Steve asked before the picture turned sideways as Steve looked at the controls. “Oh, I am,” he said and the Natasha on the video chuckled along with the Natasha watching the video. The next video was even better.

“I am going to scare the living daylights out of Steve Rogers,” Natasha whispered. Natasha smiled as the video showed Steve coming into the common area of the tower and she jumped out screaming. Steve let out a shot of surprise, jumping back.

“God dammit, Nat!” he shouted and Natasha chuckled.

“Look at that folks,” she said turning the camera to her. “I got Captain America to curse,” she said with a smug smirk.

“Don't you dare show that to Stark,” Steve said before the video ended. Natasha chuckled as she remembered her friend and let out a sigh.

“You're the Black Widow, aren't you?” She turned to see her waitress with her water.

“What if I am?”

“You're going to New York to be with the other Avengers?” she asked. “They did an article in People magazine last year about it. You guys spend Christmas together in memory of Captain America because it was his favorite holiday, right?”

“Yeah, that's right,” she said. “Steve Rogers loved Christmas,” she added.

“I do, too,” she said setting the water down on the table. “What about that woman he was with when he died?”

“Uh, she doesn't come. I haven't heard from her since his funeral. She just left and hasn't replied to our invites.”

“Well, it's nice that you do it for him. To remember him,” she said.

“Yeah, it is. I feel bad though. I’m going to be late because my car broke down. We usually decorate the tree once we're all together. I’m going to miss it.”

“You'll still be there for Christmas,” she said.

“Yeah,” Natasha said.

“I'll go check on your food,” she said before walking away. Natasha took a sip of her water before looking up and saw a painting. It seemed oddly familiar to her. It was of a mountain, a bay or a cove of some kind, trees and a pod of Orca whales. It was a beautiful painting. Steady brushstrokes laid out the water and careful ones made out the mountain and trees. Still, there was something about it that had her intrigued. The waitress came back with her meal, and strawberry milkshake. Throughout her meal, she kept looking at the painting, knowing that there was something about it that reminded her of Steve. Once she was finished eating, she got up from her chair to look at it better. 

The mountains, the trees, the water, the sky. It was all painted the same way like a very dear friend would. Someone who wasn't with them any longer. She'd watched Steve so many times to get his technique and style down and this painting had all the qualities of a Steve Rogers' painting. Perhaps it was one of his missing ones. Some of his artwork went missing, not only after his death, but when Hydra ransacked his apartment looking for the drive. He had mentioned it to her when they were packing up his stuff for his move to the tower. The only way to be sure was to check in the lower right hand corner for his SGR that he always signed his work with, but when she looked, there was only a D CLEARY signed at the bottom. Strange. She could have sworn that this was done by Steve.

“Can I get you anything else?” She turned to see her waitress.

“Just the check,” she said. “Uh, wait,” she added stopping the waitress from leaving. “Where's this painting from?” she asked.

“Not sure. The owner's had that since I was here, but then again, I only came here two months ago. I can go get her for you,” she said.

“Could you?” Natasha asked.

“Sure. Be right back,” she said before going to get the owner and her check.

The owner was a woman in her mid sixties and she smiled as the waitress brought her over. “My name's Elaine. Can I help you?”

“I'm Natasha and I was just wondering where you bought this painting,” she said and the woman chuckled. 

“I bought that a couple of years ago while on a cruise with my husband,” she said.

“Really?”

“Yeah. The ship stopped at some popular ports and lets the passengers wander the towns a bit. There was this cute little art studio gallery and the artist was in there painting it. I’m always on the look out for nice looking pieces and I just loved watching him paint it. He was so into his work and the way he moved his brush along the canvas was just breathtaking. I bought it from him right then and there and he lit up like a Christmas tree,” she said and Natasha chuckled.

“Where was the cruise?”

“It was Alaska, but we went in the summer time. It was a nice cruise. Only three stops,” she said. 

“Can you describe the artist?”

“6'2'', broad shoulders, blue eyes, brown hair, nice little beard, glasses. He was very good looking,” she said. Except for the beard, glasses and brown hair, it sounded like Steve.

“Do you have a picture?”

“No, I’m sorry,” she said. “His name was Daniel Cleary. He's a bit of a celebrity in the town where I got this.”

“Do you...?” she started to ask and the woman chuckled.

“It was two years ago. I couldn't remember unless I went home to get the pictures I took,” she said. Natasha let out a sigh as she looked at the painting. She knew Steve painted this, but if he did, that meant he was still alive. 

“Anything else you remember about him?”

“He had an accent to his voice when he got excited that I was going to buy the painting,” she said. “Don't ask me to place it, but I could tell he wasn't originally from Alaska,” she said. “Oh, his wife was so beautiful,” she said.

“Wife?”

“Yeah, she rang up the purchase for me while he readied the painting for transport. It was till drying when he took it off the easel,” she said. “She was about 5'7'', short, dark blonde hair. Those two were so in love. They moved up there to start over she said,” Elaine said. “I think I heard a baby in the back room.”

“Would you be willing to sell this to me?” Natasha asked and the woman seemed flustered. “I'll pay double what you bought it for,” she said.

“I only paid $50 for it,” she said. “I wanted to offer more, but he insisted only $50.”

 

Natasha walked out of the restaurant with the painting for $200. 

 

By the time she arrived at the tower, the other Avengers were well into decorating the tree. Wanda was using her powers to get the ornaments up on the top of the tree while Tony broke out the extra tall ladder. He was the first to see her. “Hey, Red. It's about time you showed up,” he said and everyone turned to see Natasha dropping her bags down and clamoring up the stairs with a painting. 

“Nat, what do you got there?” Clint asked and he and Bruce helped her put it on a couch.

“A painting. I saw it in the restaurant that I was eating in. I wanted to get a second, third, fourth and fifth opinion,” she said removing her coat.

“On what?” Sam asked. Natasha unwrapped the painting and stood back.

“Take a good look at it and tell me what you see,” she said, letting her fellow Avengers get a good look at the painting. It was Bucky who spoke up first.

“Did Steve paint this?” he asked looking for Steve's moniker.

“I knew I wasn't going crazy,” she said.

“Natasha, what is going on?” Bruce asked.

“Steve painted it,” she said.

“Is it one of his lost paintings?” Tony asked.

“No,” she said as Bucky looked at the signature in the corner.

“Steve didn't paint this. Some guy named Cleary painted it. What are you getting at, Nat?” he asked. 

“Look, I know this sounds crazy, but I spent an hour looking over this painting and I spent $200 bucks on it to bring it here to show you guys,” she said. “It says Cleary, but dammit, I know Steve painted this and if he did, than that means...”

“Means what, Natasha?” Thor asked.

“It means Steve's alive because the woman I bought this from said she got it two years ago,” she said. “She bought it just as the artist was finishing up.”

“Natasha, Steve died three and a half years ago,” Bruce said.

“No,” she cried. “He's alive. I know he is and this painting proves it,” she said.

“How?” Wanda asked. “This Cleary guy could have forged it. It could be another Hydra cruel trick,” she said. 

“Bucky, you knew as soon as you saw it. You thought it was one of Steve's paintings. You've known him the longest out of any of us,” she said to Bucky. Bucky sighed out as he looked over the painting again. He'd recognize Steve's style anywhere. He had seen him paint before. 

“Last time I watched Steve paint was before the serum. Even as scrawny as he was back then, he made painting beautiful. He would translate his vision onto the canvas and this painting has his technique.”

“Artists have techniques?” Thor asked coming over to the painting.

“Every artist has one. It's how historians and curators find pieces of artwork and how they've been searching for the art still missing from World War II,” Tony said. “Natasha, are you sure?”

“When have I ever been wrong?” she asked him as Thor picked up the painting.

“It's beautiful work,” he said, his right thumb pressing into the picture. “Oh, I left a print,” he said when he lifted his thumb.

“No, the paint was already dry,” Bucky said. “That was..... already there,” he said before looking at Natasha. “You said the woman bought it as he was finishing it?” he asked.

“Yeah, she said he was so excited he picked it up....” she trailed.

“What, Nat?” Sam asked.

“The artist picked it up while it was still drying,” she said. “We have his finger print,” she added.

“Anyway we can run that print?” Clint asked Tony. 

“Follow me,” Tony said. 

The painting was set on a scanning table and Friday found the print and scanned it into the system. It was put up for the Avengers to see it. “All right, Friday. Run it,” Tony said before the AI began running the fingerprint through every system. “This is nuts,” Tony said. 

“If I’m wrong, I'll buy you some Russian vodka,” she said. The system was still running the print when she thought of Sharon. The waitress had asked her about her. “Anybody hear from Sharon?” she asked.

“Carter?” Sam asked and Natasha nodded. He shook his head before turning to Bucky. 

“No. I haven't seen her since the funeral,” he said.

“Who is Sharon Carter?” Thor asked. He hadn't gotten back to Earth until after the funeral to learn that his friend had died.

“Steve's girlfriend when he died, or lover, what ever they were,” Natasha said. “They were really close,” she said. Suddenly, a beep trilled throughout the room and they all turned to the computer screen. They all did a collective gasp when they saw it. A ninety eight percent match to Captain Steven G. Rogers. A picture of their leader with the word DECEASED was up along with it.

“Son of a bitch,” Tony said.

“He's alive,” Clint said.

“It had to have been the serum,” Bruce said. “This is unprecedented. The serum actually brought him back to life,” he said. 

“Damn her,” Bucky muttered.

“What?” Wanda asked.

“Sharon Carter. Remember?” he asked. “She was alone with his body for over an hour. He must have come back to life when she was alone grieving,” he said.

“Damn her,” Sam said. “How the hell did she pull this off?”

“Well, she didn't do it alone,” Tony said. “This has Nick Fury written all over it.”

“Would he really stoop this low?” Wanda asked.

“Yes,” Clint, Natasha and Tony said all together.

“He faked his own death and Coulson's. Why not Captain America,” Tony said. “I find that one eyed son of a bitch, I’m going to kill him.”

“Calm down, Stark. There had to have been a reason for them to fake Steve's death,” Sam said.

“I believed her,” Natasha said. “Bucky, you saw Sharon at the funeral,” she said.

“She was inconsolable,” Bucky said. “Great actress,” he added. “So, how the hell did they pull it off with just the two of them?”

“We can look back at the security cameras from the hospital,” Bruce said.

“They'd be gone by now,” Natasha said.

“Not necessarily,” Tony said. “I had Friday download the hospital's security camera footage from that day, just in case. She still has it in her system,” he said. 

 

Soon they were combing through footage of the Bethesda Naval Hospital. It was the hospital Steve's body was taken to. “What are we looking for?” Wanda asked.

“Anything that looks out of the ordinary,” Natasha said.

“Stop,” Sam said and Tony stopped the video. “The screen, upper right. Those two orderlies are taking a body from the elevator to the room where Steve was taken. That was the same hall. I remember those guys.”

“Yeah, that's the hall we waited in from the room where he was,” Bucky said.

“It is. This camera view is on the other end of that hall. Here you all are standing,” Thor said. Tony rewound the video before playing it. Two masked orderlies were wheeling what looked like a body into the room where Steve's body was and about ten minutes later, they came out again, only this time, there was an IV hanging on a post.

“Now why would you need an IV for a dead guy?” Clint asked.

“Because Clint, he isn't dead,” Bruce said. “Who are those two?” he asked. 

“Tony, zoom in on their faces,” Natasha said. Tony did just that and Natasha moved closer. “That, is Phil Coulson,” she said pointing to the man pulling the gurney. 

“What about the other one?” Wanda asked.

“Not sure,” she said. “I don't recognize her,” she said.

“I do,” Thor said. “Sif had a picture from when she had come down to Earth to help Coulson with his team to hunt down a goddess who had escaped Asgard's prisons. She was an agent of his. I don't remember her name.”

“She called Coulson,” Tony said. “I thought for sure she'd call Fury,” he said.

“Fury can't be trusted. Coulson could be though. I bet he and his team nursed Steve back to health after he came back,” Clint said. “Nat, you remember. There was a top secret unit of SHIELD agents who ran missions other agents didn't. I think it was formed after the Battle of New York,” he said.

“Coulson was put in charge of it after Fury had him brought back to life,” Natasha said and Clint pointed to her.

“I bet he's running SHIELD now,” he said.

“Smart. Call Captain America's most loyal fan to help cover up he really survived the assassination attempt,” Sam said. “Why keep it a secret? Why not go public once he's healed?” 

“The woman,” Natasha said. “The wife of the artist rang up her purchase of the painting in the store, but went to the back office. She said she heard a baby crying,” she said.

“Holy mother of God,” Tony said. “Was Sharon pregnant at the time of the funeral?” he asked.

“She had to have been,” Clint said. “Man, if she was pregnant, it would explain why she'd disappeared,” he said.

“If the government or Hydra found out she was pregnant, it'd be bad?” Wanda asked.

“If anybody trying to replicate the Erskine super soldier serum found out that there was a woman pregnant with Captain America's baby,” Bruce said, “they would think that that baby would have the serum and they would use him or her, to try to get the serum out. They wouldn't care if they killed the baby in the process.”

“Wow,” Wanda said. “So, they left to protect her and the baby. Have a normal life.”

“Hydra was still in the wind. They weren't going to take any chances,” Tony said. “You know, I didn't know how close they were until I found out he left her everything,” he said.

“What?” Bucky asked.

“A couple of days after the funeral, she came to the compound to get his stuff,” Tony said. “Hill helped her pack up her car and get the benefit stuff squared away.”

“She was the beneficiary in his will?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, she got his life insurance policy, over a million dollars, his death benefits from SHIELD, what was left in his Army back pay, that was in the millions too,” Tony said. “She also got a severance package from SHIELD and the US government.”

“Not to mention, she gets a monthly pension, doesn't she?” Clint asked. 

“Yep, but I already tried that. There's a dummy account set up in her name that the check gets deposited in and then transferred somewhere else. I've tried hacking it, but who ever built the firewalls to protect it is good,” Tony said.

“Better than you?” Wanda asked.

“Clearly,” he snipped. “Friday can crack it, but she's going to need time.”

“So we focus on Alaska,” Natasha said. “There can't be too many ports that cruise lines stop at,” she said.

Natasha wished she hadn't said that. Once Friday found the passenger list that Elaine Burrows was on with her husband, Edgar, she had to go through the three ports that the ship stopped in. It wasn't until the last one, Sitka, Alaska that she came up with something. “I've found the same firewalls protecting the account of Sharon Carter to be protecting the files of the town. I cannot look around and find anyone.”

“So, we do it the old fashion way,” Tony said. “Look up art galleries and shops in Sitka, Alaska,” he said. The AI ran it and came up with a few.

“Look, Cleary Art Studio Gallery and Shop. That has to be it,” Natasha said. There were pictures, but none showing the owner or his wife.

“I guess the only way to know for sure would be to fly up there and see if it is Steve, which it clearly is,” Bucky said.

“All of us?” Wanda asked.

“We're spending Christmas together,” Tony said. “So, are we fueling up the jet?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m in,” Natasha said.

“Me, too,” Bucky said. All of them agreed.

“But we don't let anyone know what is going on,” Natasha said. “The less people know that Steve is alive the better. So, I think have Friday erase everything and put the painting somewhere no one will know where to look.”

 

An hour later, Tony was powering up a Quinjet, a second he had created with stealth technology, as a back up for the Avengers. They were all bundled up for the weather in Alaska. It was supposed to get really cold during the nights. “We better hope he's in a good mood,” Tony said. “Otherwise, we're sleeping in the jet,” he added.

“We have to find him first, Tony,” Natasha said.

“It's a small town. How hard can it be?” he asked before they took off.


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter up and running. It is just flowing. Happy new year to everyone! Don't forget to give me feedback via comments. I always love to hear from my readers.

Steve Rogers did die in Sharon Carter's arms. He was struggling to breath after the bullet pierced his flesh and blood began filling up his lungs. As Bucky and Natasha tried to keep him alive, Sharon was there, crying to him to hold on so they could get him to a hospital. His head rested on her lap and her hands wrapped around his head. He looked at her with his blue eyes and told her he loved her. She reciprocated, kissing his forehead before he drew his last breath. 

Naturally the government wanted to take custody of the body because they were hoping to use it to try to replicate the Erskine serum. Tony wouldn't have any of it. He had Steve transported to Bethesda Naval hospital and let Sharon have all the time she wanted after everyone had their chance to say good bye to Steve. Sharon was alone with him when the miracle of all miracles happened. The bullet was rejected from Steve's body. It shot out of him about as fast as it went in and Steve coughed, breathing in life. Sharon cried out with joy before heading to the door, but something stopped her. Hydra tried to kill him. They find out he survived the shooting, they'd try again. She called the only person she could trust. 

Phil Coulson, as luck would have it, was already in town for the trial of the century. He was a trustworthy friend of Captain America. She could trust him and his team to get him safely out of the hospital and somewhere safe so he could heal. Fifteen minutes after she called Coulson, he and an Agent Daisy Johnson, came wheeling into the room with a gurney. It was natural because they were already in the morgue. It was unnatural how the body double corpse they had looked so much like him. A young woman named Simmons was underneath the sheet with the body and she helped Sharon get the bleeding under control before hooking Steve up to an IV. It was an easy switch and the Avengers down the hall were not even looking their way when they left. Sharon came out of the morgue as they were going into the elevator and she was ready to say good bye to Steve. 

The funeral was a spectacle that Steve would have probably not wanted, but he was Captain America. Each Avenger said something about their leader, but it was Bucky's eulogy that had everyone in tears. His best friend and partner was dead. He shared memories of Steve before he was injected the serum, including the five times he tried to join the Army before he was allowed in for Project Rebirth. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Even Thor was tearing up with Jane's arm around him. Sharon played her part as the grieving girlfriend before heading to the Avengers facility in upstate New York. She was the beneficiary in Steve's will and came to get his stuff. All of the clothes he had, things he collected over the years since he got out of the ice, his art stuff. She got it all packed into her car and headed to Phil Coulson's secret base, smack dab in the middle of New York City. They had Steve on a ventilator until the serum would repair the damage done by the bullet. It did and they had planned for Steve and Sharon to stay with Coulson's unit and hunt down Hydra. Eventually come out of the wood work and reveal that he had survived Hydra's assassination attempt. Then Sharon got sick. Really sick. 

A simple blood test revealed she was pregnant and an amino test revealed the baby had inherited the super soldier serum from it's father.

It was Steve's decision to stay dead. Sharon and the baby were in danger as long as Hydra was still active, along with the current Red Room program and even the US government itself. All were trying to still replicate Erskine's super soldier serum. Here it was successfully replicated in a little fetus. It'd be used before it was even born. Coulson wholeheartedly agreed with Steve and set to work getting them new Ids and a safe house set up somewhere far away. Steve randomly chose Alaska and Coulson found a house in Sitka, that he purchased with funds. 

Steve and Sharon got married before leaving for Alaska. Of course, Coulson revealed that he was an ordained minister and he married his good friend Captain America to the woman he loved. Daisy set up things so that the monthly checks that Sharon got from the benefits she inherited from Steve's will came to them first before she sent it off with Sharon's new name. Steve was still laid up with injuries and Sharon couldn't fly, so they packed up a car with their belongings and they drove cross country, leaving their old lives behind.

In Sitka, Alaska, Steve and Sharon were Daniel and Margaret Cleary, a young couple starting off fresh. Their new house over looked the sound about a mile from the historical park. It was a beautiful home that needed a little TLC. Steve worked on it every day. He built a deck out the back, adding sliding doors. Sharon loved it. He turned the one storage space next to their bedroom into a nursery for their baby. He added a window and got central heating up into the room. The loft became his command post. He spent a long time wiring the cabin with cameras, inside and outside. They had a long driveway to their house and he set up a Wifi camera at the end of the drive. 

Steve took odd jobs in the town. He found himself on fishing boats for a good part of Sharon's pregnancy. They found a nice doctor in the hospital there who was taking excellent care of her and the baby. The baby grew and grew inside of her and on a cold February morning, Sarah Elizabeth Rogers, (Cleary on the birth certificate) was born. She was absolutely perfect and the doctor was amazed at how easy the birth was for Sharon. There were no complications and two days after she gave birth, mother and daughter were released from the hospital. 

They were new parents. The first month of Sarah's newborn life, they pretty much stayed in. Sure, Steve left to get diapers and other essentials, but for the most part they stayed in.

He began drawing again. Watching Sharon with Sarah, inspired him and he began sketching on notepads. Pretty soon his command post became his art studio and he started painting. One day, they were out as a family and a woman saw Steve sketching and suggested he sell his drawings and paintings. There was a space available in downtown and they bought it. Steve set up shop with Sharon running the counter. His art became a hit with the local townsfolk and they began to ask if he did special orders.

Cleary Art Studio and Gallery became a place you could get custom paintings and art supplies and art lessons. Steve found himself a business man and he was enjoying it. 

Friday, December 20, 2019, 3am

Steve startled awake with a gasp. It was the middle of the night and he let out a sigh as Sharon sat up in bed next to him. “Nightmare again?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Steve said as she ran her hands through his hair. He had grown it out to where he had it back in the forties and she had dyed it brown. 

“The shooting?” she asked, and he nodded as he ran a hand down his face and over his neatly trimmed beard. 

“It's all coming back to me at once,” he said. For the first two years living in Sitka, Steve couldn't remember anything about the shooting. He didn't remember dying or coming back to life. Then earlier in the year, after Sarah turned two, it started to hit him. He would wake up in a dead sweat and Sharon would have to calm him down. They were bad early in the year and then they stopped, but with the holidays just around the corner and knowing where his Avenger friends were and doing to remember him, he wasn't surprised that he had it again. “It's Christmas,” he said and Sharon let out a sad smile. “They're getting together to remember me,” he said. He hadn't known it was something they were doing until the article in People magazine came out last year. Steve got out of bed and went out to his loft. Sharon had been calling it his man cave area, even though there was a little play area with Sarah's toys in the corner. Sharon got out of bed, following him, pulling on her robe. They turned the heat down at night, relying on the heated mattress pads to keep them warm. Though Steve was always unnaturally warm at winter time. It was the serum and Sarah was the same way, but she still got cold. She might be more tolerant to the cold as she got older.

“We could call Coulson. Have him tell them about you,” she said. She offered the same thing every time he woke up with a nightmare to try to give him some closure.

“No, I don't want them to know yet. Not until all of Hydra is gone,” he said. “And I’m sure that Sarah is safe from being kidnapped by mad scientists. The less people know about her, the better,” he said sitting down in his computer chair.

“But they're your friends, Steve,” she said. “You can trust them.”

“I'm not ready for them to know,” he said, chuckling. Sharon knelt in front of Steve and grasped his hands with hers. “I've felt like I betrayed them. It was my decision to stay away.” Tears were forming his eyes and he let out a shuddering sigh. “I don't know what they would do if they found out.”

“They won't hate you forever,” she said and he chuckled, tears falling down his cheeks. His wife cupped his face and wiped them away with her thumbs. 

“You and Sarah are my whole world,” he said. “I've gotten used to this life with just the three of us up here. I don't know if I can go back to being the leader of the Avengers. If I lost you two, I don't know what I'd do,” he said and she let out a sigh.

“You'd hunt down the ones responsible and give them a slow and painful death,” she said and he chuckled. “You've built a home for us, Steve. I've never felt safer with anyone else. I love you, Steve,” she said.

“I love you, too,” he said. They stood up together and he kissed her softly. She had grown accustomed to the beard a long time ago, but it still tickled. He wrapped his arms around her and groaned into the kiss.

“Come back to bed,” she said.

“I'm going to check on Sarah,” he said.

“Okay,” she said. Steve gave her another kiss before he headed downstairs. He crossed the foyer and down the hall to the bedroom on the right. He peered into the pretty in pink room with flowers and fairies. One of their Siberian Huskies, Buck, perked his head up and let out a whine. 

“Stay,” he whispered. The room had a soft glow as the night light with fairies danced around the room. Sarah was fast asleep in her Frozen pajamas with her stuffed dog under her arm. Steve pulled the covers over her before giving her a kiss on her head. He patted Buck on the head before heading back upstairs. Before heading back into the bed room, Steve did a quick camera check on all his cameras. There was a low battery signal coming from the one at the end of the drive. He was going to have to replace that in the morning. Sharon was back in their bed when he walked into the bedroom and he climbed in behind her. The frame was homemade by him. He found carving wood to be calming and he made a lot of the furniture that was in the house. He pulled the covers over him and Sharon and wrapped his arm around her. She sighed contently as he wrapped her up and she turned to snuggle against him. She actually loved this time of year, snuggling up against him. It was when he was his warmest. Steve let out a sigh as he closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.

Steve woke up the next morning before Sharon did. He always did and he groaned as he got out of bed and saw it was five am. He had until 9 when his opened his store and he quickly got on his running outfit for the cold, snowy Alaskan morning. Buck was waiting for him as he got down the stairs. “Morning, Buck,” he said pulling on a fleece jacket. He didn't need people thinking he didn't need the added protection, so he pulled on a hat and gloves before heading out with Buck. He and the Husky walked down the steps from the porch and came to the clearing where the other seven dogs were. They were still all fast asleep and he looked down at Buck. “Let's go,” he said before they jogged down the driveway towards the park. 

The only reason they had eight dogs was because while on a walk with Sarah, they found a litter of eight puppies abandoned on the side of the road. They took them in and Sarah refused to let them go. So, now they had eight Siberian Huskies. Dog food was a must at their monthly trip to Costco in Juneau. Usually three bags got them through a month. Steve made sure they had lots of exercise and had actually trained them to be sled dogs. When the conditions were right, the three of them would go out on the sled with the dogs. Every night, Sarah would pick a dog to sleep in her room and then that dog would get to go on the morning run with Steve through the park.

Steve ran at his usual pace. His Captain America pace. He always made sure to be at the park early before anyone else came to walk the paths. Lucky for him, winter was a slow time for the hiking trails in the Sitka Historical Park and Steve was able to run at his top speed. He just liked to see which of the dogs could keep up with him. Buck was having the time of his life. It took him a while to match Steve's speed, but pretty soon, he was running alongside him. “Keep up, Buck!” Steve shouted before picking up his pace a little. The Husky barked at him before running faster.

It took Steve a while to figure out names for the dogs, but there were eight and he did have eight Avenger friends. Buck, Iron, Widow, Emerald, Thunder, Hawk, Falcon and Scarlet became a part of the family. They had collars and all eight had microchips in them. 

Buck was breathing heavy as he and Steve came out of the park and walked the rest of the way home. “You did good, Buck,” he said. The dog grumbled as they reached the driveway and turned into it. Steve stopped at the camera and replaced the battery before he and Buck jogged up the drive. By then, the other dogs were up and barking. “Morning, kids,” he said unhooking them. He got several tennis balls and threw them into the forest for them to hunt down. It was their morning exercise. Buck got an early reprieve. He felt like he ran a marathon. Steve put a bowl of dog food in front of him and he chowed down. Once all the dogs came back with their tennis balls, Steve gave them breakfast. Water froze outside, but he's seen them eat snow every once in a while to stay hydrated. As long as it wasn't yellow, he was fine with it.

Steve entered the house with the eight dogs in tow behind him and they went into the living room to curl up by the fire that Sharon had started. “Morning,” she said.

“Morning,” he said walking up to her. She smiled as he kissed her before sneaking a piece of bacon from the plate. “Buck kept up with me this morning,” he said.

“Good for him,” she said. “So, I, uh checked something today.”

“Yeah?” he asked.

“That conversation we had a while ago about adding to the family,” she said and he looked over at her.  
“I'm not pregnant,” she said causing him to get a sad look on his face. “But,” she said wrapping her arms around his neck. “I'm ovulating,” she said with a smile. Steve grunted as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

“Me like,” he said before kissing her neck. “How do you propose we do this?” They did have a nearly three year old who was about ready to wake up for breakfast.

“How about we have breakfast as a family and while Sarah watches her morning show, you and me work on adding to said family?” Sharon suggested.

“Works for me,” Steve said before kissing his wife.

“Mama!” The shout from their daughter caused them to pull apart and Sharon smiled seeing Sarah standing there with her stuffed dog.

“Hey, sweetie,” Sharon said. “You hungry?” she asked and the little girl nodded. Sarah was every bit like her mother. She had her blonde hair, smile, nose and cheeks. Aside from the super soldier serum she inherited from her father, Sarah was gifted with his piercing blue eyes.

“Up, Daddy!” she said and Steve groaned as he lifted her up into a chair. She also got his appetite, but Steve thinks that was from the serum. Since he was injected with it, he was eating four times more than what he normally ate to keep up with his metabolism. Sharon dished out eggs, bacon and french toast to her husband and daughter before getting a plate for herself. “It's good, Mama,” Sarah said.

“Yeah, Mama,” Steve said and Sharon chuckled. Steve and Sarah were so alike. After breakfast, Sarah settled on the floor in front of the TV with the dogs and watched her morning program, the Ellen Show. Steve didn't even give Sharon a chance to do the dishes. He grabbed her hand and they practically ran up the stairs to the bedroom. One quick glance down to Sarah from the loft to make sure she was okay before Steve picked up his wife and carried her into the bedroom, Sharon giggling the whole way.

An hour later, Steve came downstairs to find Sarah done with her show and ready to start the day. The little girl was none the wiser about what her mother and father were just doing. Both had learn to be quiet since she became old enough to understand what they were doing. It was one of the reasons she was moved downstairs to her other room. Sarah was more advanced since she had the serum. She was walking before she was one and was saying her first words at one. She was bright and very intelligent. She still needed things explained to her, but she learned early on that when they were home, Daddy was a superhero and they called each other different names than when they were in town.

At home they were Steve and Sharon, Mama and Daddy. In town, they called each other Dan and Maggie. She was still Sarah, but she knew not to say Mama and Daddy's real names to the towns folk. Steve dressed his daughter up for the cold weather outside. Jeans lined with fleece was a common item in the house. She wore her fancy boots and red Christmas sweater with a snowman on it. Her blonde hair was braided and tied with a scrunchie and Christmas hat was pulled onto her head. Sharon came down wearing Christmas scrubs and Steve had to stop himself from taking her back upstairs. He always found her sexy in her scrubs. “Down, boy,” she said before giving him a kiss.

“Yes, ma'am,” he said. Steve headed upstairs to get dressed as Sharon packed a lunch for Sarah and got the cookies for her daycare party together. Steve came downstairs five minutes later in jeans, boots, flannel shirt. He wore several layers underneath and zipped up his flannel shirt. “Ready to go?” he asked. His look was complete with his glasses resting on his nose to keep with the story he suffered from astigmatism.

“I'm ready,” Sarah said as her mother put her coat on. 

“I'm going to get the dogs hitched up,” he said pulling on his coat.

“Okay,” she said before Steve left the house with the eight dogs in tow. 

 

Fifteen minutes later, the family was driving into town. Sarah was talking excitedly about her daycare Christmas party. They stopped in front of Cleary Art Studio and Gallery. “Have a good day at work, Dan,” Sharon said.

“You, too, Maggie,” he said before kissing her softly. Sarah just chuckled in the back seat. “You have fun at your party,” he said to her.

“Okay, Daddy,” she said. Steve got out of the car and was now Daniel. His two employees, Heidi and George were waiting for him to open up. “Bye, Daddy,” Sarah said. He closed the door and turned to wave at the SVU as it pulled away. 

“Morning, guys,” he said.

“Morning, boss,” Heidi said as Steve unlocked the door and they started their day.

Sharon dropped Sarah off at her daycare, leaving the cookies in the capable hands of the teacher. Sharon headed to work at the small private doctor's house where she was the receptionist. The nurses greeted her with smiles when she walked in and began her day work. “How are you this morning, Mags?” Lucy asked.

“Great,” she said.

“I would be too if I glowed like you are right now,” Jenny said. Sharon cleared her throat before taking off her coat.

“Her husband is the reason for her glow,” Lucy said and Sharon chuckled. “Surprised you don't have more than one kid.”

“We're waiting for Sarah to be older to have another,” she said.

“She's almost three,” Jenny said.

“Right, which is why I’m glowing because we're trying again,” she said with a smile.

“You're ovulating?” Jenny asked and Sharon nodded her head.

“Next three days he's not going to be able to keep his hands off me,” Sharon said.

“Well, it only takes one time,” Lucy said.

“He just wants to make sure,” Sharon said and the others chuckled.

“You know, I’m going to have to a Christmas party tonight,” Jenny said. “You and Daniel should come.”

“No, we can't. We don't do sitters for Sarah,” she said.

“Bring her along,” Jenny said.

“Jenny, they don't want to come to your party,” Lucy said. “Once that little girl goes to sleep they are going to mate like jackrabbits,” she said and Sharon chuckled. The first patient came into the office.

“I know, but every Christmas you guys are up in the cabin with Sarah. I thought it'd be nice to invite them to a party,” Jenny said as Sharon had the patient sign in.

“It's nice, Jenny, but Dan and I have our own plans for tonight and the weekend. We started traditions for Sarah and we intend to keep them,” she said.

“Yes, but...” Jenny started to say, but Lucy stopped her.

“She understands, Maggie, but you and Dan need to have fun. Have you two ever gone on a date?”

“No, but we don't need to,” Sharon said. “We make our own fun. We're fine.”

“But...” Jenny started again but Lucy pulled her away from Maggie. Sharon let out a sigh as she picked up the phone to start her reminder calls to patients who had appointments in the new year. Today was the last day the office was open until after the new year. Dr. Lang gave his staff a really nice holiday vacation. She needed to call these patients now and then again when they come back in the new year, just in case.

“I don't get why they don't go out, other than their work, or church for that matter,” Jenny said.

“You know better than to ask that with her. They came here for a fresh start,” Lucy said.

“What if they're hiding from something? They just showed up out of the blue one day, moved into the house up there that's been abandoned for years.”

“It was a difficult place to sell,” Lucy said.

“Not from what I heard. It's got a breathtaking view and privacy. It's literally one of the best houses in town. They never invite anyone up there for parties. It's like they got something to hide,” Jenny said.

“Drop it, Jenny,” she said before heading out to start seeing patients.

Steve meanwhile was busy all day finishing special orders. It was Friday, but the last day they were open for the holidays was Saturday. The store was regularly closed Sundays and Mondays. Tuesday was Christmas Eve and Steve decided to just have their last day open for the holidays tomorrow. Which meant everyone who had a special order for paintings had to pick their order up today or tomorrow before 4 when they closed. Steve himself was leaving early tomorrow, around three to meet Sharon at Sea Mart to do their grocery shopping. “Hey, Dan!” he heard from down below his studio. He groaned as he heard George shout out in pain and he came out of the studio. 

“George, there is a reason I set up the intercom system so you don't have to shout for me.”

“Sorry, boss.”

“Don't call me that,” he said as he came down the stairs. “You yelled?”

“Oh, uh, Mrs. Bingam called,” George said and he groaned. “I know, sorry. She's coming by tomorrow at 2 to pick up her order.”

“That works for me because I intend to be out of the shop by then,” he said and George chuckled. Mrs. Bingam was a middle aged widow who had set her sights on Steve or rather Dan. Despite the fact that he was married and had a child with his wife, she seemed hell bent on trying to seduce Steve, Dan, to her bed. “Can't wait until she moves to Florida when she gets too old for the cold.”

“That could be years,” Heidi said and Steve groaned. 

“Don't remind me,” he said going back to his studio. “Anybody else call for special orders?”

“No, your idea for the voicemail messages were a good one,” she said.

“I've got one more piece to finish and then all special orders are done,” he said. 

“Got it, boss,” they said together as he walked up the stairs.

“Don't call me that,” he said before going into his studio. 

It was a long day, but eventually five o'clock came around and Heidi and George left him to close the store. There were only a few paintings to be picked up. He closed the curtains in the window and locked up his safe. He pulled on his coat on and tallied the days take. He put what he would deposit into the bank on the way home and put it in a bank bag. As he was locking up the store, Sharon pulled up in the SUV. “Daddy!” Sarah called from the back of the car. He chuckled as he finished locking up and went into the SUV. They stopped at the bank so Steve could make the deposit and then they were on their way home.

“Jenny invited us to her Christmas party tonight,” she said.

“What excuse did you give her?”

“I told her we had plans,” she said. “I overheard them, Jenny and Lucy later on. Jenny thinks it's weird that we are out here all by ourselves. She thinks we need to get out more other than for work and church functions.”

“Of course she does,” Steve said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“She made a pass at me the other day,” he said. "At a church function."

“Not her too,” Sharon said as she pulled into their driveway. “First Mrs. Bingam and now Jenny?” she asked and Steve chuckled. “What is it about you and attracting unwanted attention?”

“Me?” he asked, chuckling. Sharon hit the garage door opener and the garage opened. Steve had that added a year ago to accommodate their car and for a workshop for him. She pulled into the garage and they gathered their things and daughter from the back. The dogs were up when they came home and he came back out after putting his bag down and unhooked them. They ran around the yard for a bit while Steve filled up the dishes with dog food. They came up onto the deck and began to chow down. Steve walked in after closing the gate on the deck and let out a sigh. 

“Everything okay out there?” she asked as she started to prepare dinner.

“Yeah, good,” he said. Sarah was making herself at home at the dining room table. She was coloring pictures from day care she got during the Christmas party. Sharon made lasagna, using the simple recipe she found online, putting everything in the oven. She made salad and garlic bread and they were soon sitting at the table eating dinner. She chuckled seeing Steve still in his glasses. “What?”

“You still have your glasses on,” she said. He took them off and put them on the counter. “Sarah, did you have fun at daycare today?”

“I did. We had the cookies you made and more cookies and some cake.”

“Great. Super soldier kid on a sugar rush,” Steve said and Sarah chuckled.

“You know she's already burned through it,” Sharon said and he chuckled. After dinner, Sarah wanted to watch a movie, so they found themselves moving the sofa so they could see the TV better and letting the dogs in to watch Frozen. Sarah fell asleep halfway through the movie and Steve went to put her to bed. “Don't be long,” Sharon told him. “We still have some serious baby making to do,” she said.

“Yes, ma'am,” he said and she chuckled as he gently picked up their daughter and carried her to her bedroom. He carefully placed her on her bed and changed her into her pajamas. He let out a sigh as he let the dogs out to do their business. He decided to let them inside for the night. He heard wolves out, so he didn't want to take any chance. Emerald made it her choice to sleep in Sarah's room and the rest gathered in the living room in front of the fire. Steve closed down the cabin for the night, making sure the necessary lights were off and on. He headed upstairs and checked his cameras. Everything was okay. He put everything in sense mode. Cameras wouldn't turn on unless something made them turn on and record. He sighed out as he turned around and went into the bedroom. “Oh, wow,” he exclaimed and Sharon chuckled. She wore a silk slip that was red and green. “Is that for me or you?” he asked.

“Well, I bought it for myself, but me wearing it can be one of your many presents you're getting for Christmas,” she said and he chuckled.

“Wow, you look absolutely beautiful, Sharon,” he said and she smiled. “You look a little cold though. The girls are at attention,” he said. Sharon smacked him before pulling him into a kiss.

“Let's make a baby,” she said and Steve lifted her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.

As Steve and Sharon made love, the Avengers were flying their jet across country to Sitka, Alaska. Tony put Friday on autopilot duty and went to the back of the jet. Natasha was sitting by herself. Everyone else was asleep. “I'm sorry I doubted your gut,” he said and she shrugged. “What do you expect to do once we find him?”

“I don't know. I doubt he would want to come back. It sounds like he's got the perfect life. A beautiful wife, a family. If I had something like that I wouldn't want to leave it.”

“I'm not saying we drag his ass back to the tower. We are so close to destroying all of Hydra, I can feel it. It's still not safe.”

“Not to mention the fact that we still have to contend with the current Red Room,” she said. “And our own government.”

“We can handle the government,” he said. “They've been rebuilding their ranks since the fallout of the Civil War and Cap's supposed death. I just want to have one Christmas where everything isn't sad because Steve isn't there.”

“So, you want to spend Christmas with Steve?” she asked and Tony nodded. “Explains why you had us bring all of our food that we brought.”

“I want to see my friend again,” he said and Natasha smiled. They were going to do just that.


	3. III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part III is ready for review. Not sure how many parts there will be for this story. I'm still not even sure how I'm going to end this. Don't forget to comment! I love my readers to give me feedback.

Saturday, December 21 12:21 am

The Avengers landed in a clearing just outside of Sitka, Alaska. Thanks to the stealth technology, they landed undetected. Tony powered down the jet, save for the environmental controls to keep it warm during the cold night it was becoming. Once the jet had touched down, it woke those who had fallen asleep. “What time is it?” Clint asked coming from the back of the jet.

“Just after midnight,” Tony answered.

“We there yet?” he asked.

“Just landed,” he said.

“I found the phone book for Sitka, but the Clearys are unlisted,” Natasha said.

“So, we don't have an address?” Sam asked.

“Nope,” she said. “Where are we exactly?”

“Two miles out of town,” Tony said. “We're on the other side of the national park,” he said. “We're not doing anything tonight. Let's get some sleep,” he said.

“Bundle up. It's going to get cold outside,” Bruce said. The Avengers battened down for the night.

 

“Wow,” Steve exclaimed as he and Sharon laid in bed after making love three times.

“Yeah, wow,” she mirrored and they both chuckled.

“Who knew making a baby would be so much fun,” he said causing his wife to laugh.

“You feeling tired at all?” she asked him.

“Nope,” he said with a smug grin.

“Super soldier,” she snipped. “Well, you may be ready for a fourth round right now, but I’m not,” she said rolling off him. He whined like a little puppy. “Down boy,” she said. Steve conceded defeat and got out of the bed. Sharon watched her naked husband walk over to where his pants were and pulled them up. 

“I'm going to check on Sarah and then we are doing it again,” he said.

“You know, we only needed the one time. It's all it takes,” she said.

“I'm a perfectionist,” he said and she chuckled. That he was. As he walked out of the bedroom, she laid back down in the bed. Steve checked the cameras on the computer before heading downstairs. The wind was howling outside and he was glad he let the dogs stay inside even if they would have been fine. The Christmas tree was still lit, but that was how Steve wanted things. It gave off a nice glow throughout the room and he walked over to it. He wondered what the tree in the Avengers tower looked like. No doubt Tony would get a huge tree for the common room and put it where people could see it from the outside. All the dogs were fast asleep as he walked past them and into Sarah's room. She was fast asleep as well, Emerald on her bed, but he didn't have the heart to move her, so he just covered Sarah up and gave her a kiss on the head. When he got back up to the bedroom, Sharon was waiting for him. He took off his pants and slid back into the bed. “So, are you ready?” he asked. He got his answer when she crawled on top of him. “Oh, I'll take that as a yes,”he said and she chuckled before kissing him.

Saturday, December 21 6:00 am

The next morning, Steve woke up to an empty bed. He felt Sharon's side and felt it was cold. He glanced over to the clock and saw it was six. Sarah would have been up a half hour for her morning cartoons. He got up from the bed and pulled on his running clothes. “I was wondering when you were going to come down,” Sharon said as he came downstairs. “You slept in an hour,” she said.

“You wore me out last night,” he teased.

“Did I?” she asked before he kissed her.

“You did,” he said before kissing her again.

“So sorry,” she said and he chortled. He pulled on his running shoes and grabbed his fleece. He grabbed his iPod too and called for Emerald. “Don't freeze,” she said with a smile and Steve blew her a kiss before heading out with Emerald.

 

Bucky was up before everyone else, but when he started getting ready to go for a run, he woke up Sam. “Hey,” Sam said.

“Hey. Feel like running?” he asked him.

“In the Alaskan cold?”

“I'm up for it,” Bucky said pulling on a fleece. As he pulled on his hat and gloves, Sam got dressed, though he dressed warmer than Bucky was, opting for a running jacket instead of a fleece. They left the jet and headed to the trail in the Sitka National Historic Park. 

“I ever tell you how I met Steve?” Sam asked as they ran next to each other.

“No,” Bucky said.

“I was jogging in DC. Sun was just coming up over the horizon and this Energizer Bunny came running by me.” Bucky laughed. “He called out 'On your left' as he sped past me,” Sam said.

“That's not meeting him,” Bucky said.

“I wasn't done,” Sam said. “I thought that was the end, but he came whizzing by me again. 'On your left',” he said and Bucky chuckled. “I told him I got it, but I heard him again a third time coming up behind him. I told him not to say it, but ...”

“He did, didn't he?” Bucky chuckled.

“Yep, and me being competitive and all, I chased after him to catch up,” he said.

“You didn't?” Bucky asked.

“I did, but the dude was already halfway down the reflecting pool as I chased after him.” Bucky let out a giggle before stopping to laugh. “It wasn't funny. I was completely out of breath and hugging a tree for support when he came up to me and asked if I needed a medic,” he said and Bucky lost it. “He didn't even look like he ran thirteen miles. You know, I was enjoying my run before he started passing me,” he said, but Bucky had no sympathy for him and was still laughing. “Okay, what did Steve do to you after he got juiced up with the serum?”

“He saved my life. Rescued me from Hydra along with 400 other men,” Bucky said. “He never let me live it down, even after you guys found me,” he said as he and Sam started running again.

Steve was running, music blaring in his ears, Emerald running alongside him. He was in his own world when he came across two runners. He thought it was weird because usually he was the only one out here at this hour. He avoided eye contact as he came up behind them and slowed his pace to that of a normal human being. “On your right,” he said as he passed them with Emerald coming up behind him.

Bucky and Sam stilled at the morning jogger went by them with his dog. “Was that...?” Bucky started to ask.

“Steve's more of an on your left guy,” Sam said.

“He couldn't pass us on the left,” Bucky said.

“Point taken,” Sam said. “Let's see if we can keep up,” he said before running after the jogger. Keeping their distance, they kept pace with him. Unfortunately after a while, he started running faster and then really took off, with the dog running with him. “Oh, yeah, that's him,” Sam said and he and Bucky took off. It was hard to keep up with him, even with Bucky having version of the serum in him. They unfortunately lost sight of him and both were running to catch up to him around the corner. He was gone. 

“Damn, we had him,” Bucky said.

“Yeah, we did. At least we know he's here now,” Sam said. “We should tell the others,” he said and he and Bucky headed back to the jet.

Steve walked up the driveway with Emerald after getting the morning paper. There was something about those two joggers earlier that seemed familiar. He entered the house and lifted the paper up before setting it on the dining room table. Sharon smiled as he came up behind her and kissed her. “I'm going to take a shower, than I'll be down for breakfast,” he said.

Okay,” she said. Fifteen minutes later, Steve came down the stairs as Daniel Cleary, flannel shirt, jeans, boots and glasses.

“So what will my girls be doing today?” he asked as Sharon put a plate with a waffle and strawberries on it. She also had a glass of orange juice in it in front of her husband.

“Last minute Christmas shopping at AC for Daddy,” Sharon said.

“Aw,” Steve said as Sharon made a waffle for Sarah.

“Then we are going to Sea Mart where we will meet you for groceries,” she said. “When did you say you were going to leave the shop?”

“Probably not until 2, maybe 3.”

“Isn't that when Ms Bingam is coming for her painting?” she asked and he groaned as he put a forkful of waffle and strawberries.

“You had to remind me,” he said and she chuckled. “What goodies are we making today?”

“Gingerbread men,” Sarah said.

“Rum cookies, pumpkin spice chocolate chip, regular chocolate chip, sand tarts, and oatmeal coconut,” Sharon said.

“Oh, God, I’m going to go into diabetic shock this Christmas,” Steve said.

“Don't forget the fudge, Mama,” Sarah said and Steve moaned.

“Okay, it's official. You two are trying to get me fat this year,” he said and Sarah chuckled.

“You can't get fat, even if you tried,” Sharon said and he chuckled. She put two more waffles on his plate and he ate them with some maple syrup.

“You must have really enjoyed last night,” he said.

“All four times,” she said.

“What four times?” Sarah asked.

“Nothing,” her father said. “Eat your breakfast,” he said. After Steve had breakfast, he hitched up the dogs so Sharon wouldn't have to worry about it and then began his trek into town on foot.

 

“You found him? Where?” Tony asked. Everyone was just waking up as Bucky and Sam came back from their run. 

“Running past us in the park,” Bucky said.

“I'm sorry?” Natasha asked.

“He ran past you?” Clint asked.

“Like Speedy Gonzalez,” Sam said and everyone chuckled. “We tried to keep up, but...”

“He took off,” Bucky said.

“Really took off,” Sam said.

“He's Steve,” Wanda said. “I've seen him run. Not as fast as Pietro.”

“No one's faster than Pietro,” Clint said and she smiled.

“So what's for breakfast?” Thor asked. Bruce got out protein bars and handed them to everyone.

“No, no. There's a diner that does take out. I'll take the jeep and get breakfast,” Clint said.

“And coffee,” Natasha said. “I need to wake up.”

Half hour later, Clint returned with breakfast and coffee. “So, what is our game plan?” Thor asked as they ate. “Do we approach him?”

“We can't all approach him at once. It's too dangerous. Someone from this town could recognize us and it could put the entire town in danger if word got out,” Natasha said. “Only one of us should approach him.” She immediately regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth when everyone started talking all at once. Bucky rolled his eyes as Sam covered his ears before Bucky let out a sharp whistle. Everyone stopped talking.

“It should be me who goes,” he said. “He looked for me when I was lost and I should be the one who goes to him,” he said. He was right. Bucky was the one who should go up to Steve.

“According to their website, the store is only open until 4, but the artist will only be in until 2, 3 the latest,” Natasha said. They all glanced at their watch. It was nearing 9. “Got plenty of time,” she said to him with a smile.

“I'll do it at my own pace,” he said. “You got a phone number for the place?” he asked and Natasha pointed to it on the screen.

 

Steve walked up to the store with fifteen minutes to spare. He unlocked the door and turned the sign over to OPEN before removing his jacket. It was still early for Heidi and George to be there. He told them they could come in later. Which means they would be in at 10 most likely. Until then, he could handled the store himself. He had in the past. He turned the lights on bringing the store to life. He restocked shelves before going through messages. There was one from Mrs. Bingam, who said she would be in before 3 to get her painting. As he did work, his thoughts went back to the two joggers from the park. There was something about them that was so familiar. He didn't have time to think because the first customer of the day walked in and he had to boot up the register if they were going to buy anything. “Morning,” he said to them.

“Morning, Dan,” they said. Sitka was a pretty small town, so everyone knew him. Steve stayed behind the counter as he worked on his order list for his supplies and the store inventory. He was coming into the store on Monday to place an order which will hopefully arrived after Christmas. The store was closed on Monday so he didn't have to worry about customers. The phone rang and he reached over and picked it up. 

“Cleary Art Gallery and Studio, this is Dan,” he said. There was no answer. “Hello?” he asked before someone hung up. He hung up the phone with a groan and went to help a customer.

“What the hell, man?” Sam asked when Bucky hung up the phone.

“Sorry. I wasn't expecting him to answer,” he said and everyone chuckled.

“Bucky, are you scared?” Bruce asked and the former Winter Soldier whipped around to look at the doctor. If looks could kill, Bruce would have been dead. “Now I know where Natasha got her death stare.”

“I can't do it over the phone,” he said. “I've got to do it in person,” he said.

“Chicken,” Clint commented.

“Yes, okay, I am chicken,” he said. “A former world renown assassin and I’m scared to talk to my best friend who is supposed to have been dead,” he said.

“I can go, if you don't want to,” Sam said.

“No, I can do it. I just have to do it in person,” Bucky said. “I got to walk there to clear up my head.”

Hours later, Bucky was in downtown Sitka, making his way to the art shop. A glove covered his metal hand. Cleary Art Gallery and Studio was busy. Really busy. Bucky slowly made his way inside and browsed around the shelves. It was a nice store. He looked around, trying to see if Steve was out on the floor, but he wasn't. “Can I help you?” He turned around to see a curly haired woman with green eyes stand before him. “You look lost.”

“Actually, I’m looking for the owner,” he said. “Is Dan around?”

“Who shall I say is calling?” she asked. Before Bucky could tell her his name for Steve or Dan, he heard a familiar voice.

“Bucky?” He slowly turned around to come face to face with Steve Rogers. Gone was his trademark blonde hair. It was a little long with bangs and was now brown. He also had a neat beard to go with it and glasses perched on his nose. He smiled at Steve's shocked look and was careful not to blow his cover.

“Hey, Danny boy,” he said and the girl chuckled. He expected Steve to get all flustered and pull him into the back somewhere, but Steve pulled him into a hug. A very tight one and he hugged back. “Glad to see you alive, punk,” he said into his ear and Steve chuckled.

“I can't believe you're here, jerk,” he said back and Bucky chuckled. They pulled away and Heidi politely cleared her throat.

“How do you know, Dan?” she asked. She looked to Steve who seemed to have a brain relapse as soon as she asked that question. So, Bucky pulled one out of his hat.

“Dan and I were foster brothers back in New York,” he said. “We grew up together.”

“Oh, wow,” she said. “Danny, you didn't say you had any family,” she said.

“We lost touch,” Steve said.

“Danny here was adopted out before I was,” Bucky said. “Never knew what became of him,” he said.

“Come on. My office is upstairs,” Steve said and he led Bucky up the stairs to his office. Once the door was closed, Steve pulled Bucky into another hug. “I can't believe you're here,” he said.

“I found you this time, punk,” he said and Steve laughed.

“Jerk,” he said. “How the hell did you find me?” he asked.

“It wasn't just me, Steve,” Bucky said.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked as he pulled away from his friend.

“We're all here,” he said.

“We? As in...”

“I guess I should start at the beginning,” Bucky said and they sat down.

 

Sharon was shopping at AC when she got a text from Steve. Avengers in Sitka. With Bucky. She breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't a 911 text. That was if Hydra had found them and she was to grab Sarah and head up to their other safe house five miles north of the town. She looked around to see if she could see anyone from the Avengers, but there wasn't anyone around. “Mama, what's going on?” Sarah asked.

“Nothing, honey,” she said. They shopped some more before heading to the checkout.

 

Steve sat in disbelief. “A painting gave me away?” he asked. 

“Well, Natasha brought the painting to the tower because she thought you had painted it, which was true. I saw the fingerprint,” he said. “That's what gave you away.”

“Thought I had covered that up enough so it couldn't have been run,” he said and Bucky chuckled.

“Friday found a way,” he said and Steve groaned. “Hey, be glad it was us that found the painting and the print, not Hydra.”

“How are you guys with that?”

“Well, we've run into a snag. Seems that whatever was left of Hydra has teamed up with the current Red Room program. So, now we're hunting two organizations,” he said and Steve groaned.

“Hey, Dan!” a shout from downstairs caused Steve to groan and he stood up to go over to his desk to hit the intercom. Just as his finger was about to hit the button. “Sorry, boss. Uh, Mrs Bingam is here,” George said.

“Oh, great,” Steve said.

“Who is Mrs. Bingam?” Bucky asked.

“Her,” Steve aid pointing to a woman in her 60s as she entered the store. “She's on the council at the church Sharon and I go to. She's had her eyes on me since we joined it,” he said.

“You're married with a kid.”

“It's not stopping her,” Steve said causing Bucky to chuckle as he opened the door.

“Daniel,” Mrs. Bingam said.

“Mrs. Bingam,” he said as he walked down the stairs.

“How's my painting?”

“It's done and perfect,” he said. “I'll get it from the back,” he said and headed to the back. Bucky watched the woman watch Steve's ass as he walked to the back of the store.

“So, you guys get caught up?” Heidi asked Bucky.

“We did, thanks for asking,” he said.

“Who is this, Heidi?” Mrs. Bingam asked.

“Dan's foster brother when he was little, Bucky.”

“It's James, actually,” he said.

“Nice to meet you,” the older woman said. “Oh, nice grip there,” she said when she grasped Bucky's right hand.

“Thanks,” Bucky said as Steve came out from the back with the painting.

“Here she is, Mrs. B,” he said showing it to her.

“Oh, it's beautiful, Dan. Just like always,” she said and Steve chuckled.

“George, wrap this up, please.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Don't call me that,” Steve said as George took the painting and took it to the wrapping station.

“Your foster brother is truly talented, James,” she said to Bucky.

“As long as I can remember, he was drawing,” he said.

“Who ever helped him fine tune his talent deserves a medal,” Mrs. Bingam said.

“I wouldn't know. Dan and I lost touch after he was adopted out before I was,” he said.

“Bucky just found me,” Steve said.

“That's wonderful and just in time for the holidays. Very nice,” she said as George came over with her painting, all wrapped up. “Well, it was nice to meet you, James and you,” she said looking at Steve. “I'll see you in church,” she said before winking at her. Bucky managed to hold in his laughter until Mrs. Bingam left the store.

“A cougar trying to pick you up in church?” he asked.

“Yep,” Steve said and Bucky slapped him on the back. “Mail get here yet?” 

“Not yet,” George said. “It's Saturday.”

“Mail's late on Saturdays. Are you expecting something?” Heidi asked.

“Yeah, a package,” Steve said.

“You're having your mail sent here? Since when?” George asked.

“It's a Christmas present I had to order out for Maggie. I don't want her to see it,” he said and his employees smiled.

 

Natasha got a text from Bucky. “Bucky's made contact with Steve,” she said and everyone came over.

“Is it really him?” Thor asked.

“Bucky took a picture while he was helping a customer,” Natasha said as the picture came through the phone. She turned it to show everyone.

“It's Steve. Man, get a load of his beard,” Sam said.

“I like it,” Wanda said. “Pietro had a beard.”

“Not like that,” Clint said.

“What about Sharon?” Bruce asked.

“Christmas shopping with Sarah,” Natasha said as Bucky's text came through.

“Who's Sarah?” Tony asked.

“Their nearly three year old daughter,” Natasha said. 

“She have the serum?” Bruce asked and Natasha nodded.

“Steve's waiting on the mail at work. Apparently he's having a Christmas present for Sharon sent there so she doesn't know what it is. Sharon and Sarah are supposedly at Sea Mart Quality Foods,” Natasha said. “I've got the address. Bucky says he and Steve are headed over there once the package comes in to meet with Sarah and Sharon. We can follow them back to their house,” she said.

“We should all go in separately. Do a little shopping of our own,” Tony said.

“I can't believe it. We did it,” Clint said. “We found Steve.”

“And he's alive,” Thor said. They packed up their jeep and headed off to see their friend.


	4. IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part IV is done. Enjoy and don't forget to comment.

Part IV

SeaMart Quality Foods was a 24/7 grocery store. It was the one of few grocery stores in Sitka, Alaska. Although Steve and Sharon do a monthly trip to the Costco in Juneau, they shop every week on Saturday at SeaMart. Steve's metabolism burned 4 times faster and with Sarah getting up there too because of the serum in her system, it didn't hurt to have extra food in the house. However Sharon was now at a lose at what to do. Instead of three people for Christmas dinner, there was now going to be eleven people, including a demigod from Asgard who's appetite mirrored Steve's. Sharon entered the grocery store with Sarah on her hip. “Oh, shoot,” she said. “I don't think they have any car carts, kiddo,” she said. She went to the other end and found none over there. “Sorry, honey,” she said getting a regular cart and placed Sarah into the seat of the cart. Sarah didn't seem to care as her mother sat her in the seat of the cart. “Okay, let's do some shopping,” she said. “Daddy's on the way.” Sharon had a list of things she needed, but she always steered away from it. She bypassed the produce and bread section. She always got that stuff last, putting those things on top. “So, what do I make for nine super heroes, an ex Shield agent and a growing three year old?” she questioned quietly to herself.

“How about one of those new recipes you've always wanted to try?” she heard and she turned around to see Steve.

“Hey,” she said with a smile. 

“Hey,” he said before giving her a kiss. “Hey, Peanut,” he said to Sarah, using his nickname for her, before kissing her on the head.

“Where's Bucky?” she asked.

“He's around,” Steve said. “Along with everyone else,” he added.

“They're not together, are they?” she asked as she let him push the cart and she pulled two boxes of crackers and put them in the cart. 

“No. They are shopping separately,” Steve said and as soon as he said that, Natasha came around the corner with a cart. She had on a green winter coat with a fur trimmed hood. Her crimson red hair in a black wool cap. She smiled as she passed the family and made a good notion to check out Steve when other customers seemed suspicious of her. Sharon rolled her eyes as Steve shrugged. It didn't help that he was leaning on the cart with his ass sticking out. 

“Let's just get the shopping done,” she said. Steve followed Sharon through the aisles as she looked at her list before getting items from the shelf and putting them in the cart. 

“Daddy, I want to see the lobsters,” Sarah said as Sharon put pasta into the cart.

“Go ahead and take her,” she said. Steve unbuckled Sarah from the seat and picked her up.

“Okay, Peanut, let's go see the lobsters,” he said before settling her on his hip and carrying her over to the seafood department. Sharon grabbed the edge of the cart and pulled it with her as she went over to the canned goods. She put several cans of soup into the cart. She also put boxes of macaroni and cheese into the cart from the next aisle. She was getting to the frozen section of the store when Steve and Sarah got back from seeing the lobsters. Steve had several bags of the crab legs in his hands.

“What is this?” she asked as he put them in the cart.

“They're on sale,” he said and she rolled her eyes as she got steak fries and put them in the cart. Steve couldn't put Sarah back into the cart, so he just carried her as Sharon got frozen vegetables and got Sarah's favorite toaster strudel. They were on sale too. Next stop was the meat. The store had a pick 5 deal and she grabbed what the family liked. She also got skinless chicken breasts. She got inspiration for supper. 

“Can you go back and get me the biggest can of mushrooms? No, I'll get mushrooms from the produce department,” she said. Sharon also got the steaks that were on her list, getting extra, as well as the whole ham for Christmas dinner. They got their milk, eggs, butter and headed back to get bread. They hit the baking aisle. Sharon needed flour, sugar, brown sugar and powdered sugar. Spices were a must too before they hit the liquor counter. It wasn't s surprise to see Tony there perusing the shelves. He had on a bulky coat and a cap on his head, with shades on, but his goatee gave him away for Steve.

“Afternoon,” he said as the family passed him. He watched Sharon take a bottle of rum off the shelf and put it in the cart before turning to the wine. She grabbed two bottles of white and two bottles of red. He looked over to Steve who shrugged his shoulders before following his wife with his daughter on his hip. 

After hitting the produce section, they headed to the registers. Fifteen minutes later, they were headed to the car with their groceries. Steve was forbidden to look in the other bags as they loaded the groceries. Sarah was strapped into her car seat and they headed home. 

The jeep following them he recognized as the jeep they used when he was with the Avengers. “Are they behind us?” Sharon asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“I told you that print was still viable,” Sharon said and Steve let out a sigh. “I'm just glad it was them and not Hydra.”

“I don't think Hydra knows how I paint,” Steve said. 

“Still, should have been more careful,” she said as Steve pulled into the driveway and pushed the garage opener. He pulled in as the jeep pulled up behind them. Steve got out of the car and saw Thor in the passenger side of the jeep. He was the first one out of the jeep.

“Steven, you have gallantly braved death,” he said and Steve chuckled. His relationship with Thor was always brotherly. Thor had once told him that he had thought of him as a brother. The two equally sized Avengers hugged. “I have missed you, brother,” the demi god said and Steve chuckled.

“I missed you, too, Thor,” he said. Thor let out a jubilant laugh before lifting Steve up.

“Hey, don't hog the man,” Clint said. “We all came to see him,” he said. Thor put Steve down and Clint hugged his old hitting partner. When he had come back to Shield, Fury put him in charge of helping Steve advance his fight style. They were even partnered together in some missions with the STRIKE teams. “God, it's good to have you back,” he said and Steve chuckled.

“I never left,” he said and Clint smacked him. Sam was next as Bucky went over to Sharon to help her with the bags of groceries. Thor offered his assistance too as she got Sarah out of the car.

“Who are all these people, Mama?” she asked.

“Friends of ours from before you were born,” she said as she carried Sarah to the front door.

“You really are super,” Sam said as he hugged his friend.

“Missed you, too, Sam. I missed all of you,” he said. Tony came up to Steve after Sam pulled away and grasped his head.

“I'd kiss you, you idiot, but your wife scares the hell out of me and can kick my ass,” he said and Steve chuckled before Tony pulled him into a hug, a bone crushing hug by Tony Stark standards. Once Tony was done, it was Bruce.

“You are incredible,” Bruce said before hugging him. “The other guy is thankful you're alive, too,” he said and Steve chuckled. The doctor pulled away and Natasha stood there with her arms crossed. 

“Hey, Nat...” He was enveloped by a Black Widow hug before she pulled away and punched Steve in the arm. “Ow.”

“I am unhappy with you,” she said, “but I’m happy you're alive.” Steve massaged the spot she punched as she walked away. Wanda thought of Steve as a brother figure after Pietro died. He mentored him and trained him. She hugged his middle and he wrapped his arms around her.

“Missed you,” she said.

“Missed you, too,” he said. “Heard what you did to Crossbones.”

“Sam talked me out of killing him like I did Ultron,” she said.

“Smart,” he said to Sam.

“Can we get the groceries into the house please?” Sharon asked. “So I can start dinner,” she added.

After the groceries were put away and Sharon hid the Christmas gifts for Steve in a the guest closet, she headed into the kitchen to start dinner. She decided to do roast chicken with port wine, mushrooms and cream. After getting Sarah settled at her drawing table in the living room, Sharon started to get supper ready. “I'm going to get the dogs up and running,” Steve said.

“Okay,” she said. Natasha grabbed Wanda's arm and gestured with her head to the kitchen. Instead of going outside with the guys, they offered their help. Tony, Bucky, Sam, Bruce, Thor and Clint watched as Steve unhooked the dogs.

“Eight dogs?” Tony asked.

“We found them as puppies about a year ago. They're still young, but I've got them trained pretty good,” he said. 

“You got names for them?” Sam asked and Steve smiled.

“Down the line; Iron, Thunder, Buck, Falcon, Hawk, Scarlet, Widow and Emerald,” he introduced.

“Emerald?” Bruce asked.

“Five boy puppies, three girl puppies,” Steve said. “Couldn't call her Hulk,” he added and they all chuckled. Steve exercised the dogs before feeding them.

“I love this kitchen,” Wanda said as she cut vegetables for a tray.

“Steve redid it this past summer,” Sharon said. “We had to eat out for a month, but the result was worth it.”

“Just a month?” Natasha asked.

“Super soldier,” Sharon quipped. “There were nights he didn't sleep, which he really didn't need,” she added. Sarah came running over with a paper. 

“Mama, look,” she said and Sharon had her undivided attention. She got down to her daughter's level to look at the picture. 

“Oh, that's a pretty picture,” she said. It was a picture of their family, with the new members of the family. “Why don't you go show, Daddy?” she suggested as Steve walked in with the guys. Sarah hurried over to her father.

“Daddy, I made a new picture,” she said as he hung up his coat. She had his undivided attention as the other Avengers hung up their coats. Steve groaned as he picked up his daughter and took her picture from him.

“Wow, look at that,” he said looking at the picture. “I think this is fridge worthy,” he said and Sarah beamed. He put her down and gave her her picture back before she ran off to put her picture up on the fridge. 

“She's absolutely adorable, Steve,” Bucky said and Steve smiled.

“Just like her Mama,” he said.

“Did she get anything from you?” Tony asked as Steve led them to the wet bar he built.

“Besides his gorgeous blue eyes?” Sharon asked from the kitchen. “His stubbornness,” she said and everyone chuckled.

Once the guys had a drink and Bruce eased his way into the kitchen to help the ladies, Steve took them around the house. “It needed a lot of work,” he said as he led them upstairs. “Spent the first couple of months getting the place upgraded. The deck was my first project,” he said.

“Sharon said you did the kitchen?” Clint asked.

“Yeah. It needed an upgrade badly,” he said as they came up to the loft. “I'd call this my man cave, but,” he said stooping to pick up a toy. He waved it before putting it in the play house in the corner. “It's more like a command post for me,” he said. Tony was immediately at his computer to get a look at his security cameras. “I'm working with what I got,” he said.

“It's pretty good,” Tony said. “I can upgrade it if you want with some stuff from the jet,” he added.

“I was hoping you'd say that,” Steve said and Tony chuckled.

“So, it's a command post slash art studio slash play area,” Bucky said.

“Sarah likes to watch me paint,” he said.

“She definitely has the serum?” Thor asked.

“Yeah. Coulson's team ran a test,” he said. “She was walking before she was one, talking full, clear words at one. She's way more developed than most of the kids in her daycare,” he said.

“You going to enroll her in school?” Clint asked and Steve nodded.

“The question is if she's going to skip a grade or two,” he said and they chuckled.

“Her artistic talent is pretty good,” Sam said.

“I tried normal, children coloring books for her. She says they're too easy,” he said and they chuckled. Steve led them downstairs and he smiled as he saw Sarah setting the table with Wanda. “Dinner almost ready?” he asked.

“Another half hour,” Sharon said as he walked into the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around her from behind as the Avengers settled in the living room. “You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said before kissing her neck. “They don't hate me.” Sharon chuckled before he kissed her again before heading out to the living room. “Anybody need a refill?” she heard him ask. The dogs were let in and settled by the fire and Steve sat down amongst his friends.

A half hour later, everybody was seated at the dinner table with Sarah saying grace. “Bless this food we will eat,” she said and Steve smiled. “Bless Mama and Daddy and our dogs. Bless, also, our new friends, amen.”

“Amen,” everyone chorused before food was passed around. The food didn't last long with the superheroes at the table. After dinner was done, Steve helped Sharon clear the table and helped her do the dishes. Once every thing was cleaned up, Sharon worked on getting the dough ready for some of the cookies they were going to baked tomorrow while Sarah showed everyone her room. 

“Pink?” Tony asked.

“So, she's a fairy princess,” Steve said. “You got a problem with that?”

“No,” the billionaire said. 

“If it helps Tony, she has a set of Avenger shirts,” Sharon said from in the kitchen.

“Is her favorite one Ironman?” he asked.

“Captain America,” Steve said with a smug grin. “Followed closely by the Black Widow,” he added smiling at Natasha.

“Mama, can we watch a movie?” Sarah asked.

“It's getting late, honey. You have to get to bed and sleep, plus, we have to get you bathed first,” she said.

“I'll go heat up the bathroom,” Steve said as Sharon got a pajama set out.

“I'm not tired.”

“I know, honey, but you have the Sunday school play in the morning at church. You need to sleep.” The Avengers settled in the living room with their respective dog as Sharon and Steve worked to settle down their daughter. Sharon came out a few minutes later, leaving Steve with the task of putting Sarah to sleep. “She goes down easier with him,” she said as she stood behind the sofa. She looked around the eight of them and opened her mouth to apologize.

“You don't have to apologize,” Bucky said.

“I should,” she said. “When the bullet was rejected by Steve's body, I felt this overwhelming joy escape me. I was hurrying to the door to tell you guys, but something stopped me.”

“Hydra?” Sam asked.

“They infiltrated the US government. Who knows if they had done that too at the hospital,” she said. “I called the only person I could trust. Phil kept it within his team,” she said. “Fury would have called everybody and those people would have called other people. Phil had everything we needed on his bus to keep Steve alive and safe as he healed.”

“So, what happened?” Thor asked.

“After they got Steve stabilized, we came up with a plan. The funeral went on, I played my part and I came back to work with Coulson and his team. Steve was going to work with Coulson and his team and when Hydra was finally gone, we would have Steve come out alive, but...”

“You found out you were pregnant,” Bruce said and Sharon nodded.

“It wasn't just the fact that the baby had the serum,” she said. “My morning sickness was minute and I really didn't have that many problems with the pregnancy. Also, this,” she said pulling her sleeve up her arm. “This is where Rumlow caught my arm with his knife the day SHIELD fell. It was a deep gash and the scar was very noticeable,” she said. Her scar was barely there now. Just a faint pink line.

“While you were pregnant with Sarah, the serum protected your body,” Bruce said. “Incredible,” he said.

“Yeah, that's what Steve said,” she said. “I hardly got sick after the first month and the birth itself was the easiest. I barely felt any pain and I delivered Sarah in just five hours,” she said. “We went home two days later.”

“Her doctor called it the easiest birth he'd ever seen,” Steve said coming into the living room. “She's down,” he said before kissing Sharon. He looked to the dogs who sat up in attention. “Every night, Sarah picks a dog to sleep in her room with her,” he explained. “They are patiently waiting for me to call out the name of the lucky winner tonight,” he said as the dogs were twitching with anticipation. “Thunder, you're up,” he said and the black and white husky got up with an excited yelp and raced back to Sarah's room. The other dogs went back down onto the floor. “By the way, Bucky, Sharon said your eulogy you did for me had the whole church crying,” he said.

“He did,” Sam said.

“You didn't tell any embarrassing stories, did you?”

“Are you kidding me?” Bucky asked. “I'm taking those to the grave,” he said and everyone chuckled.

“I'm going to bed,” Sharon said to Steve and he nodded. They kissed before she headed upstairs. “Don't stay up too late, husband,” she said before disappearing into the bedroom and Tony let out a catcall.

“Stop,” Steve said as he sat down. “We're in the midst of trying for another baby,” he said and Natasha and Wanda cooed at him.

“Well, hell, don't stay down here with us,” Bucky said. “Go upstairs to your wife,” he said.

“It's fine. We've been going at it for two days.” That set them off and they laughed before Steve shushed them so they wouldn't wake up Sarah.

“So, what do you remember about that day?” Sam asked, getting down to the serious stuff.

“Honestly?” he asked. “At first, I didn't remember anything. I only know what Sharon told me what happened,” he said. He let out a deep sigh. “Then about ten months ago, after Sarah turned two, they started,” he said.

“Nightmares,” Bruce said and he nodded.

“At first it was just the shooting, then during the summer, it all hit me at once. Shooting, dying, coming back. I was afraid to go to sleep and I spent a whole month doing the kitchen,” he said gesturing back to it. 

“It is a nice kitchen,” Natasha said.

“It is,” Steve said. “I was becoming like Clint. I got done with one project, I found another one,” he said and Clint chuckled.

“What did you do for the nightmares?” Sam asked.

“Well, it wasn't like I could go to a therapist,” Steve said. 

“You didn't sleep?” Clint asked.

“I started to sleep again and I was doing pretty good until a couple of days ago. Had my first one since August,” he said.

“What prompted them?” Thor asked.

“You guys,” he said.

“What?” Wanda asked.

“They had you guys on the news that evening. The press corps outside the tower caught some of you arriving for your special tribute to your fallen leader,” he said.

“It was Nat's idea,” Tony said. “It didn't take with some of our family at first, but....”

“They dealt with it,” Bucky said.

“The article in People was really nice,” Steve said.

“That was only out after another magazine did a story without our permission,” Clint said.

“I bet that pissed Tony off,” Steve said.

“It did,” Tony said. “Taught them a lesson,” he added and Steve chuckled. “The article they did was garbage. They brought up the civil war, ran your name into the ground. There was no way they were getting away with it,” he said.

“Thanks,” Steve said.

“The first Christmas without you was the hardest,” Natasha said causing him to look at her. “I thought I was going to be fine, but then Thanksgiving went by and the holiday decorations were going up,” she said.

“She called me in tears,” Clint said. Natasha threw a pillow at him causing him to chuckle. “She didn't want to be alone,” he added.

“I called Stark, he called everyone else and it just happened,” she said.

“It didn't seem right to have Christmas without you, so we all decided to get together,” Tony said. 

“It became a tradition,” Clint said. “Laura's mom gave me hell for leaving at Christmas, but Laura understood.”

“You never liked your mother in law anyway,” Steve said and Clint chuckled. Steve let out a sigh as he stood up. “There are two beds in the guest room,” he said.

“Natasha and Wanda already claimed it,” Tony claimed as Natasha let out a smile and fist pumped with Wanda. 

“All right. You'll have to wrestle the rest of the room with the dogs,” Steve said. “That howling is wolves and they will be staying inside.”

“All right,” Tony said. “Nice tree by the way,” he said gesturing to the seven foot tree by the fire.

“Thanks,” Steve said.

“Who picked out the decorations?” Sam asked. Steve rolled his eyes. It had been no intention on his part. The tree had white lights, red, gold and blue ornaments of stars, balls and bulbs.

“Sarah,” he said. “Last year, our tree was purple and silver,” he said and everyone chuckled.

“It's really nice,” Natasha said.

“Bet the one in the tower is huge,” Steve said.

“Twelve footer,” Tony said with a smug smile. “We saw it in the window as we flew passed.”

“Well, good night, guys. We're going to be getting up for church, Bucky, if you want to come,” he said.

“Might make sense to come since Mrs. Bingam saw me,” he said.

“Make sure you record Sarah in her play so we can see,” Thor said.

“We always record Sarah,” Steve said before heading upstairs.

“Hey, try not to be so loud up there with the baby making,” Bruce said causing Steve to turn around on the stairs. “I can't believe that came out of my mouth,” he said and everyone chuckled. 

“Good night,” Steve said as he headed up the stairs. 

Sharon sat up in bed as Steve walked into the bedroom. “Hey,” she said as he closed the door.

“Hey,” he said back as she crawled out of the bed. She slowly walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his middle.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you, too.” She pulled away and he glanced down at her. “I have a serious craving for my wife,” he said and she chuckled. Sharon grabbed Steve's head and pulled him into a kiss. 

“Can you be quiet?” she asked.

“Can you?” he asked and she chuckled. Steve gently picked up his wife and took her to bed.

 

Meanwhile, downstairs.....

“It's a nice life he's got for himself here,” Tony said.

“Yeah,” Natasha said. Everything that Steve wanted, a home and family, he had right here.

“In the morning we should get back to the jet and get the stuff I need to upgrade his system,” he said.

“We should also talk about his worst case scenario plan,” Clint said.

“Worst case scenario?” Thor asked.

“What they plan to do in case the wrong people find them,” he said.

“Hydra can't hide from us forever,” Wanda said.

“They're having a easy time doing it now,” Natasha said.

“Still, it's better to be prepared,” Sam said.

“We protect our leader,” Bucky said, “and his family. Dogs included.” 

“We can talk more in the morning,” Bruce said. “Let's get to sleep,” he said. Wanda and Natasha got up and headed to the guest room. Scarlet and Widow got up from the floor and followed them. Natasha did a quick peak into Sarah's room to find her fast asleep. Thunder was out like a light too, twitching as if he was dreaming.

“He's happy we're here, right?” Bucky asked as Buck sat next to him on the floor.

“Why wouldn't he be?” Sam asked.

“Well, he was probably thinking something like this would happen since he sold that painting,” Bucky said.

“He probably thought up of an escape plan since selling it,” Clint said. “We'll worry about it in the morning,” he said.

“He's right. Let's go to bed and figure things out tomorrow,” Bucky said. Sam let out a sigh as he laid down on the floor.

“I don't know about you guys, but I think I could live up here,” he said and they all murmured in agreement.

End of Part IV


	5. V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky attends church with the Clearys and the Avengers work on fortifying the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait between chapters. Comments appreciated!

Sunday, December 22 7:00 am

Steve groaned hearing his alarm go off. It was seven in the morning. Sarah would be up soon and they had to get her ready for church. He reached over and turned the alarm off. He smelled breakfast and he wondered when Sharon got up. It was then he heard a sigh and Sharon's arm came around him as he turned around in bed. Then he remembered that the Avengers found him. It was most likely them making breakfast. He heard Sarah giggling down in the kitchen. “Sounds like they're entertaining her,” Sharon said and Steve chuckled.

“Means we have some time for ourselves,”he said. Sharon chuckled feeling her husband's morning wood. She crawled up on top of him and kissed her husband.

 

Sarah watched as her Uncle Bucky made pancakes. “Daddy makes funny shapes,” she said and Bucky was at a lose.

“How does he make them?” he asked and the little girl shrugged. 

“So what part are you playing in the Sunday school recital?” Natasha asked.

“An angel,” she said with a toothy smile. “Mama made me a halo for it,” she added and they all chuckled. 

“You should go to church with them,” Natasha said to Bucky.

“Why?”

“The people at his work met you and saw you,” Sam said. “This small of town, most of them probably go to the same church as they do,” he said. He was right, of course.

“Long lost foster brother, got it,” Bucky said. “I don't have a suit.”

“I can see if Steve will lend you some clothes,” Tony said. “I need to get a closer look at that system of his,” he added before heading up the stairs. The door to the bedroom was closed as he made it up to Steve's command post. He double checked the security system before going up to the bedroom door. He knocked slightly on the door and got no answer, so he opened the door and... “Whoa!” he exclaimed before turning around after seeing a naked Sharon on top of an equally naked Steve. Sharon let out a shriek when she and Steve moved at the same time and they fell off the bed.

“Stark!” Steve shouted.

“I didn't see anything I swear,” Tony said. “Uh,” he stammered looking behind, but whipped his head back when Sharon threw a pillow at him.

“Get out!” she demanded.

“Yeah, okay,” Tony said. He closed the door behind him and hurried down the stairs.

“What the hell did you do?” Bruce asked when he got to the bottom.

“I swear, I knocked first and when they didn't answer, I opened the door and....,” he trailed. “I walked in on them making baby number two,” he said and everyone chuckled.

“What's so funny?” Sarah asked.

“Nothing, honey,” Natasha said. Fifteen minutes later, Steve was coming down the stairs, dressed in his Sunday best. Everyone was silent as he walked over to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup.

“Good morning,” Bucky said, breaking the ice.

“Morning,” he said. 

“Daddy, Uncle Bucky doesn't make his pancakes like you do,” Sarah said.

“They're still pancakes. Eat them,” he said before kissing her on the head. “Christmas morning, I'll make funny pancakes. Okay?”

“Okay,” she said. Tony came over to Steve who held up a hand. 

“I'm sorry,” he said.

“No, I’m not the one you have to apologize to,” Steve said. Sharon came down the stairs in a green sweater dress and knee high black boots. “Oh, crap. She's wearing that sweater dress,” he muttered and Natasha grinned.

“Morning,” she said with a smile. 

“Sharon, I am so...” Tony started to say, but her hand up in his face stopped him.

“I haven't had my coffee yet, Stark,” she said. “Don't talk.” Tony nodded his head and let her go to the kitchen. Sharon poured herself coffee as Steve came up behind her.

“You're wearing that sweater dress that drives me crazy,” he said softly into her ear.

“Punishment for not locking the bedroom door,” she said and he whimpered before kissing her neck. “Down boy,” she said. 

“Hey, Steve, do you have a spare suit or something for me to wear?” Bucky asked.

“You want to go to church?” Steve asked. 

“Well, being as they all saw me as your long lost foster brother, I should probably go with you,” he said.

“I want Uncle Bucky to see me in the play,” Sarah said.

“All right, I guess you'll need a suit or at least something decent looking. Come on,” he said. Bucky followed Steve upstairs to the bedroom to find something for him to wear. They were kind of the same size.

Steve came downstairs with a sharply dressed Bucky. Natasha whistled causing him to blush. “Help me with this?” he asked, gesturing to the tie. She took it from him and Steve watched them interact with each other. He grabbed a pancake and ate it as he watched Natasha tie the necktie around Bucky's neck and he glanced over to Clint. 

“When did that happen?” he asked.

“About a couple of months ago,” Clint said. “He started remembering her from their days together with the Red Room.”

“Ah,” Steve said. Natasha finished her work of art and brushed her hands along his shoulders. She said something in Russian and he blushed again. “Good for you, Bucky,” he said.

 

Steve and Sharon finished their breakfast as Bucky got Sarah ready for church. “She's got speaking parts and everything,” Sharon said of her part in the play. “She's the angel who will tell all the good news,” she said and Sarah chuckled.

“I bring good news!” Sarah shouted. “That's my line,” she said. “Then I say, 'Go see your newborn King!'” Everyone chuckled as she put her arms in her coat that Bucky held out for her. “Can we go now?” 

“Yeah, we can go now. I’m going to run and get my glasses and then we'll be off,” Steve said. He hurried upstairs to get his glasses on the desk of his office and put them on. 

“The glasses give you a nerdy, sexy look, Steve,” Sam said.

“Don't start on that,” Sharon said as she pulled on her jacket. “It's why Mrs. Bingham gives him so much attention. Her husband was a nerdy guy,” she said and Steve groaned.

“Maybe with any luck, she'll draw her attention to Bucky this morning,” Steve said as he pulled on his jacket. “She seemed to like him yesterday when she came to the gallery. He had a nice grip,” he added and Sharon chuckled.

“I feel sorry for you, Bucky,” she said and Bucky just smiled. 

“At least her attention will be off Steve,” he said.

“True,” Sharon said. 

“Could you feed the dogs for me?” Steve asked Sam.

“Sure,” he said. Steve showed him where in the garage was the dog food and how much to give them. Each dog was ready for breakfast and Sam was dishing out the food as they pulled out of the garage and headed down the driveway. 

 

Sitka Lutheran Church wasn't Catholic, but the nearest Catholic church for Steve and Sharon to go to was in Juneau. They weren't about to pay for a ferry toll every week to go to church. So, they opted for a Lutheran church. It was perfect for them. Their monthly trips to Costco in Juneau give him the opportunity to visit the Catholic church and he goes in to light candles and go to confession.

Steve wasn't kidding. As soon as the family walked into the church, Mrs. Bingham was right there; making a beeline for Bucky. “You weren't kidding,” he muttered to Steve.

“James, so glad you could make it this morning,” she said with a smile. All of her attention was on Bucky.

“Sarah begged me to come,” Bucky said to sound like a sympathetic uncle.

“Watch it,” Steve muttered. Before Bucky could react, Mrs. Bingham had her arm around his.

“I have the perfect spot to see Sarah in action during the play,” she said, “and it's perfect for the service, too,” she said smiling. 

“I think I'll sit with Dan and Maggie,” he said gesturing to Steve and Sharon, who were watching with amusement.

“That's perfect, because it's where they sit,” she said. “Come on, I'll introduce you to some of our Sunday school teachers in charge of the play,” she said. As the older woman dragged him away, he looked back at Steve.

'Help me,' he mouthed, but Steve just grinned.

“So glad that it's not me today,” he said. Sharon chuckled as they went into the nave.

The service was nice and before he knew it, Sharon was taking Sarah to the back of the nave to get ready for the play. Steve was getting his camera ready as the Sunday school teacher, Katie, got everyone's attention. “Good morning everyone,” she said. “I hope you all are still awake, because we have a great show for you this morning,” she said.

The play itself was about the birth of Jesus. Sarah got up when it was her time and said her part, loud and clear for everyone to hear. Steve and Sharon smiled proudly as they each held up their phones to record it. After the play, there was a small coffee hour before they headed home. Of course, Mrs. Bingham had a hard time letting Bucky go. “I'll see you around James,” she said.

“Wow,” Bucky said as they left the church. 

“And good news, Buck. You get to see her again at the Christmas Eve service on Tuesday night,” Steve said causing Bucky to groan. “So glad you guys found me,” he said, patting Bucky on the back. The trip back to the house, they stopped at a local dinner to get some food for lunch. The little old lady who owned it didn't even bat an eyelash when they ordered practically everything on the menu. Steve was a big eater and if his friend, brother was the same way, she was happy to oblige them.

They arrived home with lunch and began putting it out on the table. Being the gentlemen that they were, the men allowed the girls to have first dibs on the food before going crazy themselves. “So, let me get this straight,” Tony said as they ate lunch. “Mrs. Bingham diverted her attention to Bucky?”

“That's right,” Steve said. “For once, I wasn't the attention on Sunday morning,” he said and Sharon chuckled.

“She likes Steve, but I think she's in love with Bucky,” she said and everyone chuckled. “I can't wait for the Christmas Eve service.” After lunch, Sharon set up the kitchen to bake cookies. 

“Yay, sprinkles!” Sarah shouted before heading over to where the sprinkles were kept.

“Steve, can we talk strategy with you while the women folk bake?” Tony asked. “Like, what's your exit route for the worst case scenario?” he asked.

“Grab your coat,” Steve said before heading to the door. While Sharon, Natasha and Wanda kept Sarah occupied with the cookie baking, the men headed out to the backyard. He led them to the play fort and brought them to the house section. “Our exit strategy is a work in progress,” he said as he pulled back a rug and opened a trap door. He shined his flashlight down into it to show them the beginnings of a tunnel. Tony whistled before dropping in. He shined his light down the tunnel.

“How far have you gotten?” he asked.

“About a mile,” he said. 

“That's not going to be far enough,” Sam said.

“No kidding,” he said.

“We have plenty of time to help you dig out,” Clint said.

“How far did you want to go?” Bucky asked.

“About five,” Steve said truthfully.

“Guess we better get to work,” Tony said.

“The Hulk will keep out of this,” Bruce said. “I'd rather be baking cookies,” he said before heading back into the house. 

 

Sarah giggled as she put sprinkles onto a snowflake. “That's very pretty, Sarah,” Natasha said.

“Thank you,” she said before moving on to the next snowflake. She didn't seem to care what color the snowflakes were as opposed to the Christmas trees she just decorated. Although, there were more sprinkles on the cookie sheet than the cookies. 

“Sarah, honey, the sprinkles go on the cookies, not the sheet,” Sharon said and the little girl chuckled before putting more sprinkles on the cookies and the sheet. 

“And you want to have another one?” Bruce asked. Sharon threw some flour at him causing Sarah to laugh. 

“This one is done!” she announced. Wanda took the tray and brought it over to the oven, to wait for it's turn to bake. Sharon brought another tray over to the table and put it in front of her daughter. Sarah smiled seeing Santa cutouts. “Santa!”

“How many cookies do you usually make?” Natasha asked.

“Of each kind?” Sharon asked. “I make about four dozen each kind. Steve eats most of them, but I do make up gift bins for his employees and the girls at my office. I put some extra in, just in case.”

 

By the time the others came back into the house, they were almost through baking the sand tarts. Sarah made a shout of triumph when she finished the last tray of cut outs. “I'm all done,” she said. She sounded disappointed that they were done decorating. She was now helping Wanda and Natasha clean up the sprinkle off the table and putting the lids back on. 

“Make sure you put the right lid back on,” Sharon said. It was two in the after noon and she had time to make another cookie mix and bake them. She decided to do the regular chocolate chip cookies. Natasha helped her clean up the mixer and Sarah was taken into the living room to be entertained with a movie. Steve popped in the live action Cinderella movie before getting her a juice. “I see Clint brought cookies,” Sharon said.

“Those are Laura's Snickerdoodles,” Natasha said. “We may have already delved into those on the way here,” she said and Sharon chuckled.

“So, tell me something,” Sharon said. “You and Bucky?” she asked.

“What about us?” Natasha asked.

“I saw you checking his tie,” she said and Natasha smiled.

“He started remembering me from our Red Room days together,” she said and Sharon chuckled. “We decided to take it slow,” she added.

“Not too slow, I hope,” Sharon said and Natasha chuckled. When cookies were finally done, Steve took over in the kitchen. 

“You have been baking all day. Time for me to make dinner,” he said.

“Okay,” she said as he ushered her out of the kitchen. “You better not make those crab legs. Those are for New Year's,” she said.

“Yes, dear,” he said as he got out the hot dogs.

“Hot dogs?”

“In crescent rolls,” he countered. “Easy. Effective. I can make twice what I normally make. Especially with Thor here. He loves my hot dogs,” he said and Thor chuckled.

“Plus, you'll get to use your Fry Daddy for the fries,” Sharon said and Steve gawked.

“That's right. Where did I put that thing?” he asked searching the kitchen.

“I never tried Steve's hot dogs,” Sam said. “What's so special about them?”

“I use four different kinds of cheese,” Steve answered from the kitchen. There was a shout of triumph from Steve as he found his Fry Daddy.

“I thought I hid that better,” Sharon said. “Now he's going to fry everything in sight,” she said and Natasha and Wanda chuckled.

“Mommy, what is Daddy making for supper?” Sarah asked.

“Crescent dogs and fries,” she said and Sarah got a huge smile on her face. She loved it when her daddy cooked. They always had fun food when he cooked. 

Steve cleaned up the counters and the mess that Sharon made baking cookies. He found the crescent rolls and the pans to use. Sharon liked it when Steve cooked. Meant she didn't have to do anything, but watch. She sat herself on a stool to watch him cook. “Do you have to watch me cook?”

“You watch me cook,” she said as Wanda and Natasha sat themselves on the opposite sides of Sharon. “Just ignore us,” she said and the three of them watched Steve flit around the kitchen. At one point, he bent over to get the pans to put the dogs on and the three of them just stared at his ass. “My husband has a great ass, doesn't he?” she asked.

“Yes,” Natasha said.

“Of course,” Wanda added.

“Okay, that's distracting,” Steve said straightening up. “Can I please cook in peace?” he asked and Sharon smirked.

“I guess,” she said before getting off her stool. Natasha and Wanda reluctantly got off their stools and joined the rest of the gang in the living room. 

“He kick you out of the kitchen?” Bucky asked as they came into the living room. 

“Yep,” Natasha said, claiming her seat, right on his lap. “Sharon mentioned a certain asset of his,” she said, being careful of the three year old on the floor watching the movie. It didn't take long before Sam appeared in the kitchen, offering help.

“You can open those,” Steve said, pointing to Pillsbury crescent roll tubes.

“Uh, no, that's one thing I won't do,” he said.

“What?” Steve asked as he unwrapped the hot dogs.

“Those are jack in the boxes for adults,” he said and Steve chuckled. “I'm serious, man. I’m scared to death of those things,” he said. Steve scoffed before grabbing one and began to peel back the wrapper. “Dude, watch what you're doing with that,” Sam said. The tube popped, causing Sam to jump. Steve laughed heartily and Sharon smiled.

“He hasn't laughed like that in a while,” she said.

“How long is a while?” Tony asked.

“Three and a half years,” Sharon said. “It's really nice to hear him laugh like that,” she said.

 

About a half hour later, Steve had dinner ready. Crescent dogs with four different kinds of cheese, baked beans, and french fries. Sarah was given first choice of hot dog and fries before the guests dug into the food. “Careful of the fries, Sarah. They're hot,”

“Okay, Daddy,” she said.

“The cheese is hot too,” Bucky said. “Really good, Steve,” he added.

“Yes, Steve, really good,” Wanda said.

“Thank you,” he said. He was enjoying his own food and beer. 

“So, what is on the agenda tomorrow?” Bucky asked.

“Gallery's closed, but I have to go in and do payroll for Heidi and George. Take inventory of my stock and do some ordering so I don't have to worry about it after Christmas. It may actually get here after Christmas if I order it tomorrow,” he said. “You guys don't need to come with me,” he added.

“We'll work on that thing,” Clint said.

“What thing?” Sharon asked.

“They're going to upgrade our security system,” Steve said.

“And help you with your escape route for your worst cast scenario,” Tony said.

“Okay, while you boys are playing, I'll finish baking Christmas cookies,” Sharon said.

“We'll help with that,” Wanda said.

“I will gladly take it,” Sharon said. “What I really need is someone to watch Sarah at some point so I can wrap her presents,” she said covering her daughter's ears so she wouldn't know she was talking about her.

“I can do that,” Bruce volunteered.

“Thank you, Bruce,” Sharon said. 

 

Sharon helped Steve clean up the kitchen and dishes. “So, they're going to be part of our worst case scenario?” she asked.

“I haven't asked them,” Steve said. Worst case scenario was for if or when Hydra found them and they had to bug out of the house. While Steve had guns in the house, hidden away from Sarah's reach, he would not be able to defend the house against a full on attack from Hydra. It was a given that the dogs wouldn't be able to come with them. Steve already had a plan to unhook them and let them run loose into the woods of the park should the worst case scenario happened. Each family member had a go bag underneath their bed. Steve had thought of setting up a signal to be sent to Coulson when they entered the tunnel, but he didn't want to do that until the tunnel was finished. 

Now that the Avengers were here and knew he was alive, he thought of the signal being sent to the Avengers.

It was nearing eight and Sarah was getting tired, even for a super soldier toddler. “I'm not tired,” she argued as Steve picked her up from the sofa. As soon as her head rested on her father's shoulder, she was out like a light.

“Maybe I can get some of her presents wrapped tonight,” Sharon said. She looked into the living room to see each of the Avengers with their dog. Tony was trying to get him to sit. 

“Come on, boy, sit,” Tony said. “Sit,” he commanded again, but Iron refused to budge.

“Iron, sit,” Sharon said firmly, motioning with her hand down. The black and white husky whined before sitting down. “You have to be firm, but loving Tony,” she said.

“Tony is neither of those,” Natasha said, petting Widow. Steve came back into the living room to announce the lucky dog and all the dogs came to attention. 

“Widow,” Steve said and Widow barked out before jumping off the sofa and going into Sarah's room. “All right, kids, outside tonight,” Steve said. All the dogs let out a yelp as they headed for the door. Steve pulled on a coat before heading out. They got one more bowl of food before he hooked them up. A roar of a truck engine caused him to look down the driveway, but nothing came up. “Weird,” he said before going back into the house. Sharon was in the living room with Natasha and Wanda. He motioned with his head to Sam and Bucky before heading up to the loft. They came up after him, as did Clint. 

“What's up?” Sam asked.

“It may be me being paranoid, but I heard a truck at the end of the drive while I was outside. I wanted to check it out,” he said. He brought up the camera at the end of the drive and rewound it fifteen minutes. Sure enough, there was a truck coming down the road. It actually slowed down when it reached the gated driveway of the Steve and Sharon's home and came to a complete stop.

“Do you know who that is?” Bucky asked.

“No, I can't tell,” he said. “Hey, Sharon!”

“Yes, babe?”

“Do you know who drives a red Ford pickup?” he asked.

“Uh, I think Jenny drives one,” she said. “Or her husband at least,” she added. “Why?”

“Oh, I got them at the end of our drive, but no one got out,” he said. Sharon sighed out before groaning out. 

“Remember, she's the one who thinks we have no social life,” she said and he nodded. “And she made a pass as you in church, no less,” she added.

“Right,” Steve said. 

“What is up with you, Steve?” Clint asked. “You attract every single and married woman in this town?” he asked.

“Yes, he does,” Sharon said. “Including his wife,” she added and they all laughed. Tony had come up to the loft to check it out.

“I can set it up to keep a look out for the same truck,” he said.

“Do whatever you want to do, Tony,” Steve said. “So long as I can still work it,” he added and Tony smirked.

“I will try to not mess it up too badly,” he said.

“Who wants a drink?” Sharon asked.

“I do,” Tony said, heading back down to the living room. Steve let out a chuckle before heading back down with Sam, Bucky and Clint. He truly did miss his friends.


	6. VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Christmas comes closer, the Avengers help the Clearys with their worst case scenario and Christmas plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I made a decision to end this chapter with Christmas Day, so only two more chapters to go. Things are tightening up with all my other stories and I feel ending on Christmas, with the holidays around the corner, seems fitting. Almost done!

Monday, December 23 6:00 am

Steve wasn't about break from routine. He was up at six in the morning and getting his running clothes on. Tony was already up, starting the coffee. “Morning,” Tony said as Steve came down the stairs.

“Morning,” Steve said.

“Coffee?” he asked.

“Not before my run,” the super soldier said. “Sarah up yet?”

“Still sleeping,” the billionaire said. “Widow's raring to go though,” he added and Steve looked over to the door to see that Widow was indeed ready to run. He looked into the living room to see Thor was just getting up and he saw Bucky and Natasha were curled up on the sofa with a cover over them. “I'm not a hundred percent sure, but they may or may not have done the nasty on your sofa,” Tony said to him.

“That sofa's already broken in, Stark,” Steve said, heading to the door.

“I did not need to hear that, Steve,” he said. Steve gave him a smirk before he and Widow headed out the door.

Steve kept an easy, steady pace for Widow. “Come on, girl. Keep up,” he said before stepping up his pace. Widow let out a sharp bark as she kept pace with Steve. “Oh, look at you,” Steve laughed. 

An hour later, Steve and Widow made it back to the house. He punched in the code at the gate door and they went through. He let out a groaned as he went into the house with her behind him. It was seven am now and only Thor and Tony were up. “I'll take that coffee now,” he said coming into the kitchen. Tony poured him a mug of coffee and gave it to him. “So, I never asked. How are things with Pepper?” 

“We're taking things slow,” Tony said. 

“Slow as in, they got back together after your funeral three years ago, and he still hasn't proposed to her,” Thor said before putting a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. Steve chuckled as Tony's glare at Thor before sipping his coffee. 

“For your information I am privately ring shopping at the moment and I am going to wow her,” Tony said.

“How are you going to ask her?” Thor asked.

“Well, you know me. It's got to be all flash and bang,” he said and Steve groaned. “What?”

“This is Pepper we're talking about,” he said. “She's a classy lady. No need for flash or bang.”

“Then, how do I ask her?” Tony asked.

“You could try getting down on one knee and just asking her,” Thor said. “Isn't that how you Midgardians usually do it?”

“Tony isn't your normal Midgardian,” Steve said and Tony smirked. “No flash and no bang,” he reiterated and Tony lost his smirk.

“How did you ask Sharon?” Tony asked.

“I didn't. Once we found out she was pregnant, we both made the decision to get married,” Steve said.

“I know the reference for that. It's a shotgun wedding, yes?” Thor asked and Tony let out a little chuckle as Steve choked on his coffee.

“I'm going to take a shower before heading to the gallery,” he said before he headed up the stairs. 

 

Steve let out a sigh as the water showered down on him. He barely heard the door open and felt his wife join him in the shower. “Good morning,” he said, turning around. She made a sound of approval as she put her arms around his neck, inspecting his morning wood.

“Good morning, indeed. You going to put that to good use this morning?” she asked before he back her up against the shower wall. He barely had time to catch her when she jumped up into his arms. He let out a grunt before kissing his wife.

“I love you,” he said.

“I know,” she said before kissing him back.

 

Steve came back down fully dressed a half hour later to find Sarah was up and getting breakfast made by Natasha. “Morning,” the Black Widow said.

“Morning,” Steve said. “Morning, sweetie,” he said before kissing Sarah on the head.

“Morning, Daddy,” she said eating a piece of French Toast. 

“Breakfast?” Natasha asked.

“Sure,” Steve said. He took the offered plate from his red head friend before heading over to where Bruce sat. 

“Morning,” the doctor said. Sharon came downstairs a few minutes after Steve, looking rather radiant. “Wow, you look very nice.”

“Oh, Bruce, I’m just in jeans and a flannel. That's so nice,” she said.

“Back off, pal,” Steve quipped and Bruce chuckled.

“Just commenting, Steve,” he said before going to get more coffee. Sharon took the much appreciated plate from Natasha and went over to the table and sat next to Steve. 

“You going to finish baking today?”

“Yep, I am. I have three helpers today. With any luck, I can get gifts wrapped too,” she said.

“I will be doing babysitting duty for that,” Bruce said.

“All right then. Sounds like you got everything under control. I’m going to head on in and get my work done. I’ll be back before lunch,” Steve said before kissing Sharon in the cheek and then went to get Sarah.

 

Steve let out a sigh as he entered his gallery. He locked up the door behind him and headed up to his office. He booted up his computer and sat down with a sigh to begin to work.

 

Sarah giggled as she helped her mom cut out the gingerbread men. When she pushed down the cutter, she would pull it off the cookie dough and her mom would get the little man out of the cutter or off the counter. “You are doing such a good job, Sarah,” Natasha said.

“Thank you, Auntie Nat,” Sarah said.

“She’s so smart,” Wanda said as she mixed the icing.

“Yeah, pre-k classes are looking more and more promising next year. Maybe full kindergarten classes. Depends on how she tests,” Sharon said.

“Pietro and I skipped a grade,” Wanda said. “First grade. We were too smart for the other kids.”

“Sarah’s getting there,” Sharon said. “She speaks better than the other kids her age and her drawing is better, but she could have inherited Steve’s talent for art.” Natasha smiled as she made the gingerbread men look like gingerbread men. After the gingerbread men were done, they cleaned up to work on the next cookies for the day.

 

Steve was walking home when he heard it. The rumble of a truck caused him to turn around. The red pick up from the security video drove up next to him. “Hey, Daniel.” It was Jenny.

“Hey, Jenny,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Um, I know it’s short notice, but do you think Maggie could bake something for the coffee hour between services tomorrow?” she asked.

“Yeah, I could ask her. She loves to bake,” he said. “I’ll have her text you her answer.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, um, were you driving by our property Sunday night? I caught your truck on my driveway end camera,” he said. 

“I wasn’t, but oh, I think it was Adam.” 

“Your husband?” Steve asked her. “Why would Adam be driving by our house?”

“Uh, I’m not sure. I could talk to him about it. I feel it’s my fault.”

“You’re fault?”

“He knows about my crush on you,” she said sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“Well, try to control yourself tomorrow. We’re in church for goodness sake,” he said and she chuckled before heading off.

Steve walked up his driveway and saw the men Avengers climbing out of the tunnel. “Hey, how are things going?” he asked as they walked up onto the deck.

“We got the tunnel down another half mile and it’s secured,” Tony said.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Thank the Iron Man suit,” he said and Steve chuckled as they entered the house. 

“Cover his eyes!” he heard Sharon and Thor closed his hands over his eyes.

“Why?” he asked.

“I’m wrapping Steve’s presents. Take him upstairs or show him the tunnel,” Sharon said. 

“Showing Steve the tunnel,” Clint said.

“Oh, Jenny drove up beside me on my way home. She wanted to know if you could bake something for the coffee hour between services tomorrow night,” Steve said.

“Sure, now get him out of here,” Sharon said and Steve found himself being taken outside.

“Okay, the tunnel,” Tony said.

“You didn’t even ask her how long to entertain me,” Steve said as he went down into the tunnel. 

“We’re going to be down here for at least an hour,” Thor said. 

“All right, show me the tunnel,” he said.

When they got back to the house an hour later, there were presents underneath the tree for Sarah and Steve. “No presents for me?” Sharon teased Steve.

“I have to wrap them first, dear,” he said before kissing her. “Which is what I’m going to do right now,” he said before heading upstairs to wrap Sharon’s presents.

 

About an hour later, he came back down with wrapped boxes. “Are you hiding the bows down here?” he asked and Sharon pointed to the living room. He let out a sigh as he put the presents down on the floor. “Sarah, want to help me pick out bows for your mommy’s presents?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said before getting up from the floor and helping her dad pick bows for her mom’s presents. “Is this the one I picked?” she asked. It said ‘To Mommy From Sarah’ on the gift tag. 

“It is,” he said as he put a gold bow on it. Pretty soon, there were plenty of presents under the tree. It was then that Natasha remembered their own presents. 

“Stark, our presents for each other are still in the jet,” she said. 

“Yeah, we can go get them tomorrow,” he said.

“We have nothing for the Clearys though,” she said.

“They didn’t get us anything,” Clint said.

“I know, but I feel, being an aunt to Sarah now, I need to get something for her and I saw everything that Steve and Sharon got her, so Wanda and I are going shopping tomorrow,” she said.

“There’s plenty of places in the town, or you could ferry to Juneau. They got Costco, some little shopping malls,” Sharon said. 

“Looks like the Avengers are going to go shopping,” Tony said.

“You do realize that they are probably going to stuff for us, right?” Steve asked Sharon.

“I do,” she said. “Natasha’s already told me they are going to Juneau,” she said.

“Oh, so we can shop here,” Steve said.

“Exactly,” she said before kissing her husband. Sarah tired out pretty fast after dinner and baking cookies again for church tomorrow. Steve had her in bed before eight which was a miracle in it’s self. “Wonder if we can get a couple of Game of Thrones episodes in tonight?” Steve asked.

“Oh, what season are you up to?” Thor asked. “I’ve been on that show too,” he added.

“We just finished season three last week,” Sharon said as she put the cookies she made for the coffee hour into a container. “We were about to start season four, but I think we decided to hold off until the new year.”

“We did?” Steve asked.

“Yes, nothing but Christmas movies,” she said. “We don’t need gore and blood.”

“I haven’t finished season three yet,” Thor said.

“Oh, I will shut up now,” Steve said. There was no need to spoil the show for Thor.


	7. VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Eve shopping antics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seven down, one more to go. Thanks to my loyal readers who have been hanging in there. I do not own the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Who else is pumped for Avengers Infinity War!!!?????

Tuesday, December 24th 0800

It was a bright morning when the Avengers got to their stealth jet. “Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve?” Clint asked as he strapped in. “I avoid this with online shopping,” he said.

“Yes, well, we weren’t counting on finding our long lost thought to be dead friend,” Natasha said. “Who is married and has a daughter,” she added.

“So, we’ll hit all the shops in Juneau and I’m still a card carrying member for Costco,” Tony said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Thor said.

 

Meanwhile, Steve, Sharon and Sarah were heading to do their own last minute Christmas shopping for their friends. They decided to hit all the stores in their small town. Hoping to find something for each of their friends. They stopped at Mountain Miss Gear & Gifts to find something for Natasha and Wanda. It was mostly a clothing store of mountain gear for women, but there were gifts too. Sharon picked out a nice necklace and earring set made from stones found up in the mountains for both of them. Sarah liked scarves, so she decided that her two new aunts would like scarves too and picked out two pashmina scarves for them. Red for Wanda and green for Natasha. Steve took a glance at the winter fleeces still left. He knew Natasha liked green, but didn’t want to be too predictable. Wanda liked red, a lot. Her whole time with the Avengers, she always wore red. He was pretty sure it had something to do with her powers being red when she used it. “You got something?” Sharon asked. 

“Yeah, I do,” Steve said. He checked the size to make sure the cowl neck fleece sweater was Wanda’s size before grabbing a blue one for Natasha. 

“Blue? Nat likes green,” she said.

“Do you see green here?” he asked and she chuckled. He was right. This was what they get for shopping on Christmas Eve. They checked out before heading out to find things for the uncles of the group. They headed down the street to Russell’s, another clothing store, but for men. It was kind of mundane for them to shop for clothes, but they were thinking if they got them Alaskan wear, they would come back to visit. Not just for Christmas. Steve also had an ulterior motive to coming into the store. “Oh, yes,” he said.

“Really, Dan,” Sharon asked as her husband made a beeline for the knife section. Hunting knives that is. 

“What? Bucky likes knives,” he said to her. 

“The Winter Soldier liked knives,” she said quietly to him. 

“Ah, Bucky liked knives before he was the Winter Soldier,” he said causing her to smirk. 

“Fine,” she said. “Pick out a nice one for him,” she added.

“He’s my best friend,” he said. “I know what he likes,” he added and she laughed.

Sarah had to go pick an Alaska shirt with different designs for each of her new uncles. Uncle Thor got one with a polar bear. Uncle Tony got one that had different Alaskan signs on it, while Uncle Bruce got one with a brown bear on it. Uncle Sam got one with a bald eagle on it because she remember her daddy telling her Uncle Sam flies like an eagle. Uncle Clint got one with a salmon on it and Uncle Bucky got one with a buck on it. They were lucky to find large sizes in all of them. Sharon saw the thermos set and thought of Sam and his love for coffee. The ear muff hat she got would look great and funny on Tony. Steve saw some arrow heads that he knew Clint would love and got a whole box of Cliff protein bars for Tony. He saw Sharon grab an ear muff hat and got one for Sam.

“What were you thinking about for Bruce?” she asked.

“Book store across the street,” he said and she nodded. They purchased for what they had, thinking to hit the other work gear and clothing store after lunch.

Old Harbor Books was a very quaint bookstore and they were regulars, bringing Sarah to the story time every Wednesday. She loved to read. Bruce was easy to shop for and Steve hoped the books they got him, he hadn’t read yet. After getting the books they picked out, they stopped for lunch at the Backdoor Cafe, where they were regulars there as well. “Wonder how they are faring in Juneau shopping for us?” Sharon asked.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” he said.

 

Downtown Juneau was a bust. It was mostly jewelry stores and while Tony went ahead and got something for Sharon from there, so they headed to the area of the city close to the airport. There was a little shopping mall. “Oh, a Petco,” Natasha said.

“For what?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting something for Widow,” she said, mentioning her pooch namesake. 

“Excellent idea,” Thor said. He and Thunder had become best buds in the days since meeting.

They heading into Petco to shop for their namesake dog. Thor got a tire that looked like Thunder would be able to handle. Natasha and Wanda each got a rope toy for their dogs. Tony was at a loss at what to get Iron, so he just grabbed the biggest rawhide bone he saw. Clint noticed that Hawk liked balls, so he got a really big one for him. Buck and Falcon were inseparable and shared everything, so they got the same chew toys for them so they could easily be swapped. Emerald seemed more laid back, but Bruce got a toy for her none the less. Once they were done and purchased through, they hung around the little outlet mall to see what else was around. Natasha and Wanda went into Joann Fabrics to get some new coloring books for Sarah. There were limited choices, but they found some and crayons. Heartside Books was hit by Bruce. His quality time with Sarah revealed that she loved to read as well and he got her a book he knew she didn’t have.

Tony being Tony opted to wait for Costco. He was going to be the annoying uncle and get Sarah something that made noise.

Clint was more practical and got Sarah some shoes at the Payless. Uncle Bucky got her a pretty necklace at Sweetheart Gems. Sam got her a blank drawing book and some markers to use her imagination when drawing. 

Next they went into Sportsman Warehouse. Wanda and Natasha found some nice flannel shirts for Steve. They had noticed it was a regular thing he wore as Dan Cleary. They also got him some jeans which they were sure his ass would look great in. Something they were sure Sharon would be appreciative of; seeing her husband's ass in jeans they got him. Thor spotted a hat that he was sure Sharon would love and wear all the time when summer came around. The girl put it in a hat box for him, giggling as she waited on him. Wanda had to come to his rescue, putting her arm around his. The cashier then awkwardly handed her the things Thor bought, including the last x large size quilt lined vest for Steve. 

Steve and Sharon both liked to cook, so a stop in Gourmet Alaska was in order for Bruce. He got some cookbooks he spotted on a shelf that from spending time with Sharon in the kitchen, she didn’t have. He also noticed that Sharon’s tea towels were a bit worn. Steve would have probably got her some, but more wouldn’t hurt. For Steve, he got air fryer, something that people have been raving about. He was sure Steve could find something to cook in it. The cookbook using an air fryer would make sure he did.

Costco was a bust and Tony seemed to lose hope at finding the perfect present. “We could try Anchorage,” Thor said. He toowas having no luck at finding Sarah a present. Anchorage was home to an Air Force Base, so they had to be extra careful. Luckily they used the stealth mode in the jet and touched down on the far part of the Chugach National Forest. They used the jeep to get around and into Anchorage. They parked the jeep before getting out to walk around on foot. 

“This is more like it,” he said as they walked the streets. “I’m hitting the Walmart. At least they might have what I’m looking for,” he said before heading over with Bruce. Wanda and Natasha shrugged before heading off to look somewhere for Sharon. They still had not gotten her something. Clint headed off to Lowe’s with Sam. They both noticed Steve’s handy work around the house and got him some more hand tools to work on the boat that was starting in the workshop of the garage. 

Thor and Bucky hit it big at the toy store. Thor found a cute tea set for Sarah while Bucky found princess shoes. “Perfect,” he said. 

“Did you find something for Steve?” Thor asked him.

“No, not yet,” he said. They made their purchases and soon realized something. “I’m hungry,” the god of thunder said. Bucky looked at his watch and chuckled. 

“We spent so much time shopping, we forgot to eat,” he said. “It’s after 1,” he added.

“We should get some sustenance before continuing.” Bucky shot a text off to Tony. He and Bruce had already eaten at a Vietnam place nearby the Walmart. Wanda and Natasha were currently eating somewhere where they didn’t want company, but each other. 

“Guess we’re on our own,” Bucky said.

Wanda and Natasha lucked out when they found Pier 1 Imports. Wanda found a nice glass figurine of a dolphin that she hoped Sharon would like and Natasha found pillow accents. They ate lunch at the Olive Garden before texting Tony that they would meet up at the Jeep. It was not a surprise seeing Tony and Bruce securing a big box on top of it. “What did he get?” Wanda asked and Nathasha chuckled.

“He got Sarah a jeep,” she said and Wanda rolled her eyes. Granted, the little motorized jeep was pink, but it was a jeep none the less. 

“Boom,” Tony said after he and Bruce finished securing it on top of their jeep. “Best uncle award right here,” he said and Wanda chuckled. “You find something for Sharon?” he asked and the two of them lifted their bags up. Bucky and Thor were next to come back. 

“We should get back to Sitka. Sharon and Steve are probably going to want me to come to church tonight.”

“Soon as everyone gets here,” Tony said.

“Wow, Stark, you went all out for Sarah.”

“Best uncle in the world, right here,” he said, pointing to himself.

 

They got back into the jeep once Sam and Clint got back and headed back to where they parked the quinjet. As they took off in stealth mode, they were hoping they were able to get in and out under the radar of the Air Force Base.

 

Steve let out a groan as he finally finished wrapping his presents for his friends. He placed each one under the tree. Sarah and Sharon had long finished their wrapping. “I just got a text to Natasha. They’re heading back.”

“We should let them have the room to wrap presents,” Steve said. “I’m going to get the kids running around out there,” he said.

“Okay,” she said before he kissed her. Steve worked the dogs, hitting the ball to the woods by their property. There was a rumble down the end of the driveway and he was wondering who it was. It couldn’t have been the guys because they had just text that they were heading back. With his baseball bat, he headed down the driveway. The red pick up truck was not at the end of the drive, but a cruiser from the Sitka Police Department. He opened the door at the gate with the code and walked through. Out of the car came, Adam, Jenny’s wife. 

“Afternoon, Dan,” Adam said. Yeah, Jenny had to be married to the Chief of Police here in Sitka. 

“Afternoon, Chief. Something I can help you with?” Steve asked.

“Just wanted to check on you guys up here.”

“Any particular reason why?”

“Well, we’ve had reports of bears in the area. You got a place for your dogs inside?”

“We do. Brought ‘em in the other day after hearing wolves out.”

“You still got that shotgun?”

“I do, but I don’t use it unless I need to,” Steve said. “Out of Sarah’s reach, of course.”

“Good, uh….”

“Adam, why are you really here?” Steve asked, putting his bat down.

“Jenny told me of her crush on you and I just wanted to make sure that you have no intention on...”

“Adam, your wife having a crush on me is your problem, not mine,” Steve said. “If you would notice that every woman in our church has a crush on me and it’s just that, a crush,” he said. 

“Mrs. Bingham gets a pass because her husband's dead,” Adam said. “I just don’t need Jenny straying.”

“She’s not, is she?” Steve asked.

“She’s just obsessed with you,” Adam said and Steve chuckled. “I’m not playing. You guys, you and Maggie are all she talks about. How you guys have no social life outside of the church. She invited you guys to our Christmas party the other day and Maggie said you guys had plans.”

“Quiet movie night at home with Sarah,” Steve said as Adam came up to him.

“She’s also worried that something might be coming for you guys.” Steve let out a sigh as he rolled his tongue around in his mouth. “Something I need to know about your past?”

“You don’t have to worry about anything, Adam. Your wife, I hate to say it, needs to mind her own business and stay out of my family’s,” he said. “Our business is ours.”

“What the hell did you two run away from?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” Steve said.

“It does if it threatens the safety of this town,” Adam said. “I’m the Chief of Police,” he added.

“I know that, Adam, but don’t be coming around my property in your truck trying to spy on us. I know Maggie and I came here three years ago acting all hermit like.” Adam looked at him with a confused look. “What?”

“I’m not coming out here in my truck,” he said.

“Then tell your wife to stop it,” Steve said.

“You guys barely came out in public after Sarah was born,” Adam said.

“New parents, first baby. Didn’t really want to leave them alone much,” Steve said.

“Okay, whatever. You’re twice my size and can beat me up if I challenged you for Jenny’s honor,” Adam said and Steve chuckled. “I know it’s not your fault my wife likes you.”

“Right,” Steve said.

“It’s not just her, Dan. The whole town thinks it’s weird that you two hardly go out,” Adam said.

“We spent the day shopping today. Maybe that will get them to stop,” he said.

“Christmas shopping?” 

“My long lost foster brother found me,” Steve said.

“Oh, yeah, James. I met him Sunday at the coffee hour,” he said.

“Didn’t have anything to give him on Christmas,” Steve said. “I’ll see you around, Adam.” 

“Yeah, you, too, Dan,” Adam said. Steve let out a sigh as he got his bat leaning against the gate and watched Adam get into his cruiser before heading off down the road. He locked the gate door behind him before heading up the driveway. That was the first time he had to explain himself to Adam since moving to Sitka. He hadn’t had a visit like this from the chief of the police until Jenny came to town 18 months ago. Adam went off to visit family in Las Vegas and he came back with a wife. She seemed to be nosy person, always having to get into people’s business. Jenny still hasn’t acclimated to being in Alaska and not Nevada.

Steve heard another roar coming from above and he smirked. The new Avengers quin-jet was obviously over them. There was a clearing about a couple miles from their house that would allow them to park and be closer to the house. Their jeep could easily make it through the woods to their house. He was chopping wood when he heard the jeep rumbling through the woods. He looked at Clint when he nearly clipped a dog. Clint just shrugged before parking the jeep. “Were you aiming for Falcon?” he asked when Clint got out.

“Is that who I almost hit?” Clint asked.

“Yeah,” he said, gathering some wood before going up the steps. “You guys can use our room to wrap presents,” he said. “I’m going to start on dinner, so we can get ready for the Christmas Eve service.”

“All right,” Natasha said. “You almost hit Falcon?”

“I thought I was clear and he just shot out in front of me,” he said.

“My dog, your bad,” Sam said, taking his gifts into the house.

Steve made his crab legs, opting to not have them for New Year’s. Tony had already told him that they planned to leave on the 26th. Another day for him to ask them to be part of the Worst Case Scenario. He had an interesting story to tell them at dinner. “So, you had a visit with the Chief of Police because his wife has a crush on you?” Tony asked.

“Yep,” Steve said.

“Don’t know why he even tried to be intimidating,” Sharon said as she helped Sarah were her crab leg. “He’s five foot six and only 157 pounds. Steve towers over him,” she said and everyone chuckled.

“He was just throwing some weight around,” Steve said.

“From what you said it’s the first he’s come around since you guys moved here,” Natasha said.

“He used the excuse about bears being in the area.”

“It’s Alaska, there’s always bears,” Clint said.

“We get wolves,” Steve said. “Haven’t had a bear yet,” he added.

After dinner was cleaned up, Steve and Sharon went upstairs to get dressed, the Avengers having already wrapped their presents. Natasha and Wanda said they would get Sarah ready for church. “Mommy lays out my dress for me,” she said as they helped her take a bath. 

“It’s on the bed,” Natasha said. Once Sarah was cleaned, they got her out of the tub and dried off. Sarah pretty much dressed herself. Wanda and Natasha were pretty much there to make sure she put everything on correctly. Bucky changed in the guest bathroom into another suit he borrowed from Steve. Natasha once again helped him with his tie and noticed she was dressed up. 

“Are you going to the Christmas Eve service too?” he asked.

“We all are,” she said. “We’ll go in separately, of course,” she added. She finished doing his tie and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

Arriving at the church was smooth. Steve and Sharon arrived with Sarah, the promised to be baked cookies for the coffee hour. Bucky was right behind them and sure enough, Mrs. Bingam came bounding up to him. “James, there you are,” she said with a smile. 

“Oh, boy,” Bucky muttered before smiling as the widow put her around his. “Mrs. Bingam, nice to see you again.”

“Likewise,” she said. “And Dan, looking sharp as ever in a suit,” she added to Steve.

“Maggie wouldn’t let me out in just a flannel,” he said. 

“Sarah, why don’t we take our cookies to the kitchen for the ladies to put out for the coffee hour?” Sharon asked her daughter.

“Okay, Mommy,” she said. 

“Wait, wha…? Sharon?” Steve asked. Mrs. Bingam wrapped her other arm around Steve and Bucky had to hold in his chortle. “Lead the way, Mrs. Bingam,” he said. She chuckled as she led the two men into the nave. 

The nave was packed for the early Christmas Eve service. Steve craned his neck around to look for the others who said they would be there. These were the Avengers he was looking for. If they didn’t want to be seen, they weren’t going to be. Sharon returned with Sarah and saw in the pew next to Steve. Mrs. Bingam, sat herself next to Bucky. Sarah sat between her parents and the service began. It was a nice service. It always was and Sarah loved the candlelight part where they shut the lights off as everyone sang ‘Silent Night’ while lighting candles. 

After the service was over, Steve and Sharon usually left, but they decided to stay for the coffee hour. Just to watch Bucky squirm as Mrs. Bingam introduced him to just about every single woman of the congregation. “It’s like she’s trying to get him to stay here in Sitka,” Steve said and Sharon chuckled.

It was late when they got home, after driving around to see Christmas lights. Sarah was fast asleep when they got home. The jeep belonging to the Avengers was parked in the driveway. The dogs were sleeping soundly, looking like they have been already feed. As they closed up the garage, it began to snow and they smiled. Since living here in Alaska, they have had a white Christmas. Sarah was going to be so happy when she woke up in the morning. 

The Avengers were sitting in their living room, watching ‘Miracle on 34th Street’. Sarah was quickly changed into her Christmas pajamas before Steve and Sharon changed out of their Christmas attire while Bucky changed in the guest room. They joined their friends for the rest of the movie. “I really enjoyed seeing Mrs. Bingam cling to Bucky as if he were a lifeline,” Tony said and Steve chuckled. 

“That’s what I have to go through every Sunday with her,” he said.

“Or whenever she visits the gallery,” Sharon said putting her legs across her husband's lap.

“Who was she introducing him to?” Wanda asked.

“Every single woman under the age of thirty that belong to the church,” Sharon said. “She had two daughters, both of whom had married and moved away. Now she tries to marry everyone else’s daughters.”

“She doesn’t have anything else to do?” Sam asked.

“She’s a widow,” Steve said. “She’s retired. Not really,” he said.

“The service was really nice,” Natasha said.

“Where were you guys?” Sharon asked.

“We sat around the nave,” Bruce said. “Some of us used disguises,” he added.

“I tried to get Thor to cut his hair, but he wasn’t having it,” Tony said. 

“You cut my hair, you will die,” Thor said and Steve chuckled. He missed this bickering between them. 

“For being a small town, no one seemed to question who I was,” Wanda said. “They just assumed that I lived here,” she said.

“Well, Sitka maybe small, but we still don’t know everyone,” Sharon said. 

“Plus, there are tourists here, even during Christmas. Something about Alaska during Christmas has people coming here.”

“Has it started to snow yet?” Natasha asked.

“It was when we were coming home,” Bucky said and Steve smiled at the fact that he said ‘home’. 

“Wish it wasn’t though,” Steve said. 

“Why?” his wife asked.

“Northern lights are at their peak starting in December. We usually get a good show around Christmas,” Steve said. Natasha seemed bummed. Growing up in Russia, she always enjoyed the Northern lights when they occurred. 

“If it’s snowing, we won’t see it,” she said.

“Maybe tomorrow night, before we leave,” Clint said.

“Do we have to leave?” Tony asked and they all remained silent. In truth, nobody really wanted to leave.

“It will look suspicious if we don’t emerge from the tower after Christmas,” Natasha said.

“Yes, it would,” Wanda said. Steve looked over at her, to where she and Sam were hoarding the love seat. There was another relationship he was going to have to explore. Natasha and Bucky were curled on the floor together. Thor was on the recliner while Tony, Bruce Clint were on the sofa with him and Sharon. 

Steve let out a sigh as he and Sharon climbed into bed. The movie had long since been over, yet they all stayed up and talked well after midnight. “I’m going to miss them when they leave,” he said.

“I know,” she said. “I’ll miss them, too,” she added.

“Maybe they can come back next year,” he said and she smiled.

“Already thinking ahead,” she said before kissing him. Steve let out a sigh before gathering his wife up in his arms and pulling her to him. “Merry Christmas, Steve,” she said.

“Merry Christmas, Sharon,” he said back before they fell asleep.

 

End of Chapter VII

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to comment! :)


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